The       i 
NewCentury 

3ible 


The  Pastoral 
Epistles 


*     MAR  20  1908      * 


'^OCI 


Division 


Section 


The  foUowing  thirteen  volumes,  comprising  the  whole 
New  Testament,  have  already  been  arranged  for. 

1.  MATTHEW,  by  Prof.  W.  F.  Slater,  M.A. 

2.  MARK,  by  Principal  Salmond,  D.D. 

3.  LUKE,  by  Prof.  W.  F.  Adeney,  M.A. 

4.  JOHN,  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  M'^Clymont,  D.D. 

5.  ACTS,  by  Prof.  J.  Vernon  Bartlet,  M.A. 

6.  ROMANS,  by  the  Rev.  A.  E.  Gar  VIE,  MA.,  B.D. 

7.  I  AND  n  CORINTHIANS,  by  Prof.  J.  Massie,  M.A. 

8.  PHILIPPIANS,  EPHESIANS,  COLOSSIANS,  PHIL- 

EMON, by  the  Rev.  G.  CuRRiE  Martin,  M.A.,  B.D. 

9.  I  and  II  THESSALONIANS,  GALATIANS,  by  Prof. 

W.  F.  Adeney,  M.A. 

10.  THE   PASTORAL    EPISTLES,    by   the   Rev.    R.  F. 

HoRTON,  M.A.,  D.D. 

11.  HEBREWS,  by  Prof.  A.  S.  PeAKE,  M.A. 

12.  THE  GENERAL  EPISTLES,  by  Prof.  W.H.Bennett, 

M.A. 

13.  REVELATION,   by   tlie   Rev    C.   ANDERSON     ScOTT, 

M.A. 


THE  NEW-CENTURY  BIBLE 

TIMOTHY  AND  TITUS 


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General  Editor  :  Prof.  W.  F.  Adeney 

INTRODUCTION 

AUTHORIZED  VERSION 

REVISED   VERSION   WITH    NOTES 

INDEX  AND  MAP 

^-^^  EDITED    BY 

R.  F.  HORTON,  M.A.,  D.D. 


NEW  YORK:   HENRY  FROWDE 

OXFORD    UNIVERSITY    PRESS,    AMERICAN    BRANXH 

EDINBURGH  :   T.  C.  &  E.  C.  JACK 
1901 


The  Revised  Version  is  printed  by  permissum  of  the 
Universities  of  Oxford  aJtd  Cambridge. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Editor's  Introduction  .......  i 

Text  of  the  Authorized  Version        <         •         •         •  59 

Text  of  the  Revised  Version  with  Annotations       .  8i 

Index       ..........  195 

MAP 

Roman  Empire,  shewing  the  journeys  of  St.  Paul  .  Facing  Title. 


THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES 

I,  II  TIMOTHY  AND  TITUS 

LNTRODUCTION 


THE    PASTORAL   EPISTLES 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER   I. 

Authenticity  and  Contents. 

Until  the  year  1804,  when  J.  E.  C.  Schmid  cast 
a  suspicion  on  the  genuineness  of  the  First  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  our  three  Epistles  had  been  from  the  earliest 
times  acknowledged  as  the  work  of  Paul.  In  1807 
Schleiermacher  maintained  that  the  *  so-called  First 
Epistle  of  Paul  to  Timothy  '  was  an  imitation  of  the  genuine 
letters  2  Timothy  and  Titus.  In  1812  Eichhorn  assailed  the 
genuineness  of  all  the  three,  and  he  was  followed  by  De 
Wette,  Schrader,  &c.  In  1835  Baur  advanced  his  theory 
that  the  letters  were  productions  of  the  second  century, 
written  to  stem,  in  the  name  of  Paul,  the  tide  of  Marcion's 
Gnosticism,  and  to  advance,  in  the  same  august  name, 
the  organization  of  the  early  church.  And  this  view  is,  in 
all  essentials,  held  by  Holtzmann  in  his  New  Testcunetit 
Theology,  ii.  259  (1897):  'We  have  before  us  Paulinism 
strengthened  in  a  church  direction,  and  tempered  in  a 
CathoUc  direction,  reshaped  in  view  of  the  church  needs 
of  an  advanced  phrase  of  development.'  Reuss  maintains 
the  genuineness  of  2  Timothy,  and  Pfleiderer,  Ewald, 
Krenkel,  Hesse,  C.  Clemen,  Ad.  Harnack,  followed  by 
Prof.  McGiffert  in  his  History  of  Christianity  in  the 
A-postolic  Age  (1897),  claim,  as  genuine,  certain  passages 

B    2 


4  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

on  which  another  hand  built  up  the  letters  for  doctrinal 
and  ecclesiastical  purposes.  On  the  other  hand  Lange, 
Schulze,  Godet,  Huther,  B.  Weiss,  &c.,  on  the  continent, 
and  Sanday,  Hort,  and  Bernard  in  this  country,  contend 
for  the  genuineness.  And  the  Kurzgefasster  Comjnenfar, 
(Riggenbach  and  Zockler,  1898),  which  is  the  latest  and 
most  impartial  utterance  on  the  subject,  after  reviewing 
the  arguments /r^  and  coft,  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
though  there  are  many  things  which  make  it  difficult 
to  believe  that  we  have  here  letters  of  Paul  as  they  left 
his  hand,  and  it  may  be  necessary  to  suppose  that 
genuine  letters  have  been  put  together  by  a  disciple  of 
Paul,  Luke,  or  Timothy  himself,  '  the  Apostolic  authority 
of  our  letters,  guaranteed  by  the  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit  and  of  Power,  is  not  in  the  least  affected.  They 
are  and  remain  an  authentic  part  of  the  Canon.' 

This  decision  is  so  important  and  so  sufficient  that  the 
discussion  of  the  genuineness  becomes  one  of  only 
secondary  interest.  Our  three  letters  not  only  contain 
certain  passages  which  are  among  the  priceless  treasures 
of  Scripture  (e.g.  i  Tim.  ii.  3-7,  iii.  14-16,  vi.  14-16; 
2  Tim.  ii.  1-13,  19-26,  iii.  16,  iv.  6-8;  Titus  ii.  11-14, 
iii.  4-7),  but  they  lay  stress  on  certain  aspects  of  truth 
which  are  nowhere  more  happily  enforced.  The  practical 
and  ethical  side  of  Christianity,  never  separated  from  faith 
in  the  saving  truths,  is  emphasized  in  the  importance  of 
good  works.  Church  officers  must  be  good ;  all  the 
ground  is  cut  away  from  the  corrupting  notion  that  the 
bad  character  of  the  clergy  does  not  hinder  the  grace 
which  they  administer.  Faith  is  closely  bound  up  with 
a  good  conscience,  and  love,  and  other  virtues  ;  and  the 
gift  of  eternal  life  appears  almost  as  a  reward  of  good 
living,  a  point  which,  however  liable  to  abuse,  is  essential 
in  preserving  the  church  from  antinomianism  (i  Tim.  vi. 
18  f.  ;  2  Tim.  i.  16-18,  ii.  4-6,  11,  12,  iv.  7  f.)  Then  there 
are  certain  words  and  ideas  which  are  key-notes  of  these 
Epistles,  e.g.   godliness,   sobriety,   gravity.     And   if  wc 


INTRODUCTION  5 

try  to  conceive  Paul's  doctrine  as  a  whole,  we  shall  find 
that  the  peculiar  emphasis  of  these  letters  is  needed  to 
give  to  his  thought  balance  and  completeness.  If  it  were 
established  that  the  authorship  and  phraseology  were 
not  Paul's,  we  should  still  have  to  believe  that  the  point 
of  view  which  is  adopted  in  these  letters  was  familar  to 
him,  and  was  impressed  on  such  disciples  of  his  as  Luke, 
Timothy,  and  Titus. 

But  though  it  is  only  of  secondary  interest,  and  cannot 
affect  the  canonical  value  of  the  Epistles,  it  is  well  to 
understand  the  grounds  on  which  the  genuineness  is 
questioned,  especially  as  the  present  commentary  does 
not  take  sides  in  the  controversy,  but  endeavours  to  put 
into  the  student's  hands  the  arguments  by  weighing  which 
he  may  decide  for  himself,  whether,  or  in  what  sense, 
these  letters  came  from  the  hand  which  wrote  Romans, 
I  and  2  Corinthians,  and  Galatians. 

The  writer's  own  position  need  only  be  so  far  stated  as 
to  enable  the  reader  to  make  allowance  for  the  personal 
equation.  I  feel  to  the  full  the  weight  of  the  objections 
which,  since  the  time  of  Eichhorn,  have  been  brought 
against  the  genuineness  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  com- 
mentary these  objections  sometimes  recur  with  over- 
whelming force.  But  on  the  other  hand  the  sign-manual 
of  Paul  is  so  unmistakable  in  the  personal  notices,  in 
certain  suggestions  of  doctrine,  and  also  in  the  use  of 
many  of  his  favourite  ideas,  that,  if  the  only  alternatives 
were  to  ascribe  the  letters  to  Paul  or  to  regard  them  as 
a  fabrication  having  no  connexion  with  his  pen,  I  should 
feel  that  the  difficulties  of  believing  in  the  fabrication 
outweigh  the  difficulties  of  accepting  the  genuineness. 
The  hypothesis,  however,  that  certain  fragments  of  Paul's 
letters  were  worked  up  into  this  form  by  some  disciple 
who  understood  his  master's  mind,  may  meet  the  diffi- 
culties on  both  sides  ;  and  without  accepting  any  solution 
of  the  question  which  has  yet  been  offered,  I  can  well 
believe  that  a  solution  may  be  found  in  this  direction. 


6  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

Now  to  state  briefly  the  difficullies  which  present 
themselves  in  accepting  the  traditional  view  of  the  Pauline 
authorship  :  — 

I.  Perhaps  we  need  not  attach  much  importance  to 
Prof.  McGiffert's  remark  on  the  three  letters  that  '  the 
external  testimony  to  their  genuineness  is  far  weaker 
than  in  the  case  of  any  of  Paul's  other  letters'  {Apostolic 
Age^  p,  399)  :  for  if  weaker,  it  is  still  quite  sufficient.  In 
the  very  earliest  Christian  literature  that  has  come  down 
to  us,  Clement  of  Rome  (95  A.D.)  shews  traces  of  knowing 
I  Timothy  (Clement's  first  Epistle,  vii.  3,  xxix.  i,  liv.  1  ; 
second  Epistle  xii.  i, '  the  day  of  the  appearing  of  God ' :  cf. 

1  Tim.  vi.  14;  2Tim.i.  io,iv.  1,8;  Titus  ii.  13,  and  also  chap, 
xix,  and  xx.  6),  and  there  are  in  his  two  letters  echoes  of 

2  Timothy  (e.g.  i  Clem.  v.  6,  xxvii.  3  ;  2  Clem.  vii.  3), 
while  the  phrase,  '  ready  unto  every  good  work,'  i  Clem, 
ii.  7,  must  be  a  quotation  from  Titus  iii.  i.  In  Polycarp 
there  is  a  distinct  quotation  from  i  Tim.  vi.  7,  10,  *A 
beginning  of  all  evils  is  love  of  money  ;  knowing  there- 
fore that  we  brought  nothing  into  the  world,  but  not  even 
have  we  anything  to  carry  out  of  it,  let  us  arm  with  the 
armour  of  righteousness'  {ad Philip,  iv.  i) ;  and  again  in 
the  Latin  version  of  xii.  3  we  read,  '  Pray  for  all  saints, 
pray  also  for  kings  and  powers  and  princes '  :  cf.  i  Tim. 
ii.  I,  2.  Indeed,  echoes  of  i  Timothy  can  be  detected  all 
through  chapters  5  and  6  of  this  Epistle  of  Polycarp. 
Similar  echoes  of  2  Timothymay  be  traced;  e.g.  in  ch.  v.  2, 
'  We  shall  reign  with  him  if  we  are  faithful '  (cf.  2  Tim.  ii. 
II,  12),  and  in  ch.  ix.  2,  '  For  he  did  not  love  this  present 
world,'  using  the  very  phrase  of  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  In 
Ignatius  there  are  echoes  of  i  Timothy,  e.g.  in  ad  Ephes, 
x.  I,  or  ad  Sjnyr?i.  xiii.  I,  '  Virgins  that  are  called  widows,' 
which  can  only  refer  to  I  Tim.  v.  3,  II  ;  there  are  also 
echoes  of  2  Timothy  in  ad Sf/iyrn.,  e.g.  ch.  ix.  and  ch.  x,  and 
the  unusual  word  '  refresh'  of  2  Tim.  i.  16  occurs  both  in  the 
Smyrnean  letter  and  in  the  Ephesian,  ch.  ii.  i  ;  there  are 
fainter  echoes  of  Titus  in  ad  Magnes.  vi.  2,  'an  ensample ' ; 


INTRODUCTION  7 

ad  Trail,  iii.  2,  'demeanour.'  In  the  Letter  to  DiognctuSy 
ch.  xi.  p.  3,  itself  a  sermon  rather  than  a  letter,  but  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  of  those  first  Christian  writings,  the 
unknown  author  shews  signs  of  knowing  i  Tim.  iii,  16, 
for  he  has  a  kind  of 'quotation  from  memory  '  of  it:  '  Who, 
dishonoured  by  the  people,  preached  by  the  Apostles,  was 
believed  on  by  the  nations.' 

Aristides,  the  earliest  apologist,  Justin  Martyr,  Athena- 
goras,  and  the  Letter  of  the  Church  of  Vienne  and  Lyons, 
all  shew  some  acquaintance  with  our  three  Epistles. 

On  the  other  hand  Marcion,  Basilides,  and  the  other 
earliest  heretics  rejected  the  Epistles,  though  Tertullian 
{adv.  Marc.  v.  21)  certainly  implies  that  Marcion  already 
knew  the  letters  and  rejected  them  from  heretical  motives. 
Tatian  also  rejected  the  two  Timothy  letters,  while  he 
accepted  Titus. 

It  is  not  until  the  second  half  of  the  second  century 
that  we  find  the  three  Epistles  recognized  in  the  Canon 
of  Pauline  letters  by  Irenseus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and 
the  Muratorian  Fragment.  But  considering  the  brevity 
and  the  personal  character  of  the  letters,  it  must  be  owned 
that  the  external  testimony  is  quite  sufficient,  and  Eusebius 
might  well  reckon  them  among  the  accepted  canonical 
writings  {Hist.  EccL  iii.  3.  5  ;  25.  i).  And  as  from  Tatian 
to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  no  doubt  was 
ever  cast  upon  them,  we  may  confine  ourselves  to  the 
internal  difficulties,  which  from  the  time  of  Schleiermacher 
have  been  brought  into  constantly  clearer  relief. 

2.  A  careful  reader  will  be  conscious  of  a  decided  change 
in  the  general  doctrinal  position  as  compared  with  Paul's 
earlier  letters.  Not  only,  as  already  observed,  is  stress  laid 
on  good  works,  but  faith,  which  to  Paul  was  the  root  of 
everything,  here  loses  its  unique  significance  and  is  almost 
reduced  to  a  place  side  by  side  with  other  virtues.  We 
say  *  almost,'  because  Paul's  view  of  faith  is  constantly 
suggested  (e.g.  i  Tim.  i.  2,  4,  iii.  9,  v.  8,  12,  vi.  12  ;  2  Tim. 
iv.  7  ;  Titus  iii.  5),  but  on  the  other  hand  it  is  frequently 


8  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

reduced  in  value  (e.g.  i  Tim.  ii.  7  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  18,  iii.  8; 
Titus  i.  13  ;  also  i  Tim.  iv.  6)  by  being  coupled  with  other 
things,  and  is  sometimes  omitted,  as  in  Titus  ii.  11-14,  in 
a  way  which  is  very  puzzling,  assuming  Paul  to  be  the 
writer.  Yet,  as  Riggenbach  (in  Kurzgefasster  Covuncn- 
tar^  p.  8)  maintains  against  Holtzmann  and  von  Soden  and 
Dr.  Bernard,  faith  in  these  letters  always  retains  its 
subjective  meaning,  and  it  is  never  necessary  to  adopt 
that  meaning  which  became  common  in  the  second  century, 
oi  fides  quae  creditur^  i.e.  a  creed  rather  than  an  act  of 
the  soul.  The  word  which  here  takes  the  place  of  faith 
in  the  other  Pauline  letters  is  'godliness'  (piety),  a  word 
which  occurs  eleven  times  in  these  three,  but  not  at  all 
in  the  remaining,  letters  of  Paul.  This  gives  some 
colour  to  Prof.  McGiffert's  remark,  that  if  Paul  wrote 
these  letters  he  had  given  up  'that  form  of  the  Gospel 
which  he  had  held  and  taught  throughout  his  life,  and 
descended  from  the  lofty  religious  plane  on  which  he  had 
always  moved,  since  Christ  had  been  revealed  in  him,  to 
the  level  of  mere  piety  and  morality'  {Apostolic  Age, 
p.  404). 

The  problem  presented  therefore  is  that  while  Pauline 
doctrine  appears  (e.g.  2  Tim.  i.  9-1 1,  ii.  11  ;  Titus  iii.  4-7), 
the  general  cast  of  the  doctrine  carries  us  away  from  Paul 
to  a  development  which  during  the  second  century  became 
so  pronounced  that  the  primitive  Pauline  position  was 
practically  lost  in  'another  gospel.' 

3.  The  style  and  phraseology,  though  always  betraying 
points  of  agreement  with  Paul,  are  not  exactly  Paul's. 
The  dialectic  of  the  other  letters  has  disappeared,  and  the 
subjects  are  simply  treated  in  succession,  without  any 
orderly  connexion. 

There  is  also  a  certain  chill  in  these  letters  which  is 
unlike  Paul.  Though  writing  to  Ephesus,  and  to  Crete, 
where  he  had  himself  been,  there  are  no  warm  personal 
salutations  in  Paul's  manner,  and  the  language  to  Timothy 
is  hardly  as  affectionate  as  the  references  to  him  in  the 


INTRODUCTION  9 

earlier  letters  would  lead  us  to  expect,  though,  especially 
in  2  Timothy,  the  circumstances  would  seem  to  demand 
even  an  increase  of  affectionate  expressions. 

Then  it  must  be  owned  that  the  references  to  the  false 
teachers  are  not  quite  in  Paul's  manner.  They  are 
denunciations  rather  than  refutations :  they  do  not 
discriminate,  but  they  mingle  antinomian  and  ascetic, 
spiritualistic  and  legalistic,  tendencies  in  one  common 
condemnation.  The  writer  does  not  attempt  to  refute  the 
heresies,  as  in  Corinthians,  Galatians  or  Colossians,  by 
revealing  the  sacred  mysteries  of  his  gospel  and  shewing 
the  spiritual  principles  of  the  cross,  but  he  appeals  to  a 
deposit  of  truth  which  is  handed  down  as  a  safeguard 
against  all  heresies  of  whatever  sort.  This  is  like  2  John, 
and  like  Polycarp,  but  not  like  Paul. 

Then  as  to  phraseology.  There  are  in  these  three 
letters  171  words  or  phrases  which  are  not  found  else- 
where in  Paul,  that  is  an  average  of  one  to  every  verse 
and  a  half.  It  is  true  that  each  letter  of  Paul's  betrays 
many  new  expressions ;  but  the  comparison  with  the 
Pastorals  may  be  thus  exhibited — 

Pastorals,  i  in  1-55  verse; 

2  Cor.,  I  in  3-66  verses  ; 

Rom.,  I  in  3-67  verses; 

Gal.,  I  in  5-14  verses ; 

I  Cor.,  I  in  5-53  verses. 
But  in  addition  there  are  phrases  borrowed  from  Latin 
{^.%.  gratias  Jiabeo,  I  Tim.  i.  12  ;  2  Tim.  i.  3) ;  there  is  a 
curious  tendency  to  leave  out  the  article ;  there  is  a 
marked  omission  of  certain  words  which  Paul  much 
affected,  and  a  love  of  words  compounded  with  '  house,' 
'witness,'  and  'lover  of.'  Again,  while  the  phrase  'God 
our  Saviour'  appears  several  times,  Paul's  favourite,  'the 
God  and  father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  does  not  appear 
at  all. 

In  the  notes  an  attempt  is  made  to  point  out  all  these 
peculiarities   of  expression   (the   reference   is   of  course 


lo  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

always  to  the  Greek  and  not  the  English  words),  so  that 
the  reader  may  form  an  independent  judgement  of  their 
bearing  on  the  question  of  the  Pauline  authorship.  They 
are  very  interesting  and  very  instructive  ;  for  they  raise 
the  question  how  far  it  is  possible  for  a  man,  in  the  course 
of  five  or  six  years,  to  change  his  general  vocabulary  ;  to 
adopt  new  expressions,  new  conjunctions,  new  casts  of 
sentences  ;  and  to  entirely  drop  others  which  have  been 
customary  and  even  favourite  forms. 

Riggenbach,  after  carefully  enumerating  all  the  peculiar- 
ities, affirms  that  they  do  not  suffice  to  settle  the  question 
of  authorship.  On  such  a  subject  it  is  absurd  to  be 
dogmatic  ;  quot  homines^  tot  sententiae. 

4.  The  greatest  difficulty  has  been  found  in  the  indi- 
cations of  a  developed  church  organization,  an  ordained 
episcopate,  a  tradition  of  apostolic  doctrine,  a  conception 
of  the  Catholic  Church  as  the  pillar  of  the  truth,  an 
insistence  on  baptism,  an  indication  of  incipient  liturgies. 
If  these  things  are  found  in  these  Epistles  it  must  be 
owned  that  the  Epistles  cannot  belong  to  the  Apostolic 
Age^  but  must  be  brought  down  into  the  second  cen- 
tury, when  for  the  first  time  these  developments  appeared. 
That  there  is  language  which  might  seem  to  refer  to 
these  things  every  one  must  admit.  The  exegesis  of 
this  language  therefore  becomes  a  critical  question,  for 
on  it  turns  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistles.  The  view 
taken  in  the  following  commentary  is  that  indications 
of  these  later  developments  are  not  indisputable  in  our 
letters. 

(i)  The  church  organization  is  stiir  the  congregational 
order,  which  appears  in  the  other  Pauline  letters  and  in 
Ignatius  :  the  church  always  means  the  local  society  of 
believing  souls.  (2)  Bishop  and  presbyter  are  identical 
terms ;  and  only  two  orders  of  ministry  are  known,  viz. 
elders  (bishops)  and  deacons,  though  here  for  the  first 
time  appears  side  by  side  with  deaconesses  an  order  of 
Church  Widows.     The  monarchical  episcopate  (i.e.  the 


INTRODUCTION  ii 

minister  of  the  congregation  as  the  centre  of  unity  and 
the  representative  of  Christ),  so  famihar  to  Ignatius 
in  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  is  not  yet 
known.  The  'bishop'  of  i  Tim.  iii.  i-6  is  evidently 
the  elder  of  ch.  v.  17  and  of  Titus  i.  5,  6.  If  in  these 
passages  'the  bishop'  is  mentioned  in  the  singular,  it  is 
only  as  the  particular  example  of  the  class.  To  regard 
Timothy  and  Titus  as  bishops  is  wholly  unhistorical, 
and  nothing  in  the  letters  gives  colour  to  the  fiction. 
The  two  appear  as  representatives  of  Paul,  as  evange- 
lists discharging  a  temporary  mission,  and  not  as 
bishops  permanently  attached  to  special  churches.  The 
late  tradition  which  made  Timothy  bishop  of  Ephesus, 
and  Titus  bishop  of  Crete  must  not  be  allowed  to  dis- 
credit the  authenticity  of  these  letters  any  more  than 
the  equally  uncertain  tradition  which  made  Peter  bishop 
of  Rome  can  be  allowed  to  accredit  the  papal  claims. 
(3)  As  for  the  tradition  or  deposit  of  apostolic  doctrine, 
though  the  words  are  identical  with  those  subsequently 
used,  as  indeed  they  were  borrowed  from  these  Epistles 
by  the  church  in  later  days,  they  do  not  bear  here  the 
meaning  which  they  afterwards  acquired.  The  usage 
here,  suggesting  a  certain  body  of  truth  and  type  of  faith 
which  could  regulate  the  belief  and  practice  of  the  future, 
stands  intermediate  between  the  Pauline  notion  of  faith 
and  the  work  of  the  Spirit  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
church  teaching  of  an  external  canon  of  truth,  or  a  formu- 
lated creed,  on  the  other.  And  this  expression  and  its 
underlying  idea  point  therefore  not  to  the  second  century, 
but  to  the  later  part  of  the  first  century  and  the  immediate 
disciples  and  successors  of  Paul.  (4)  Though  the 
church  betrays  a  tendency  to  be  something  more 
than  the  local  community,  the  crucial  passage,  i  Tim. 
iii.  15,  does  not  shew  any  real  departure  from  the 
conception  in  Paul's  other  letters,  and  is  not  so  near  to 
the  catholic  conception  as  the  'one  body,  one  spirit'  of 
Ephesians.     (S)  The  place  of  baptism  in  Titus  iii.  5  is 


12  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

striking,  but  it  does  not,  as  we  shall  see,  go  beyond  the 
teaching  of  Peter  and  John ;  while  the  complete  silence 
about  the  Lord's  Supper  shews  how  far  the  age  of  these 
letters  is  from  the  dawn  of  Sacramentalism.  And  finally 
(6),  the  slight  traces  of  liturgical  uses  are  fanciful,  and,  if 
established,  there  is  yet  nothing  to  shew  that  such  hymns 
and  canticles  were  not  in  use  from  the  apostolic  days  (cf. 
Matt.  xxvi.  30;  Eph.  v.  19), 

Under  this  head  then  we  have  to  conclude  that  the 
difficulty  is  not  of  the  kind  that  would  bring  the  Epistles 
down  into  the  second  century,  though  it  may  make  it 
difficult  to  believe  that  we  have  here  the  autograph  of 
St.  Paul. 

5.  Baur's  contention  that  the  heresy  referred  to  in  our 
letters  is  the  second  century  Gnosticism  is  now  no  longer 
maintained.  To  see  in  the  '  endless  genealogies '  a  refer- 
ence to  the  yEons  and  Emanations  of  the  Valentinian 
Gnosticism  would  hardly  be  plausible  at  all,  but  for  the 
phrase  'antitheses  of  the  falsely-called  Gnosis'  in  i  Tim.  vi. 
20,  which  suggests  the  well-known  antitheses  of  Marcion. 

But  as  there  is  no  specific  reference  to  the  later  Gnos- 
ticism, but  everything  implies  that  these  heretics  are 
Jewish,  and  occupied  with  questions  of  the  law,  and 
as  there  are  sufficient  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
Gnostics  and  their  Gnosis  go  back  to  the  early  days  of 
Christianity  (cf.  St.  John  and  Cerinthus,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  Nicolaitans),  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  anything 
in  the  substance  of  the  false  teaching  here  pushes  us 
decisively  beyond  the  age  of  Paul,  though,  as  we  have 
admitted,  the  manner  in  which  the  writer  treats  the 
heretics  is  not  quite  Pauline. 

6.  The  difficulty  of  finding  a  place  in  the  life  of  Paul, 
as  it  is  recorded  in  the  Acts  and  other  Epistles,  for  these 
three  letters  is  certainly  a  prima  facie  argument  against 
their  genuineness.  Mosheim  in  vain  tried  to  locate  them 
in  the  three  years  of  ministry  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  l-io). 
The  effort  failed  for  this  reason ;  the  style  and  character 


INTRODUCTION  13 

of  the  three  letters  are  so  homogeneous  and  so  distinctive 
that  none  of  them  can  be  sandwiched  in  between  other 
letters  of  Paul,  and  Mosheim's  argument  required  us  to 
make  them  contemporaneous  with  Romans  and  Corinthians. 
Mr.  Vernon  Bartlet  in  his  Apostolic  Age  (1900)  has  revived 
the  attempt  to  find  a  place  for  the  Epistles  in  the 
known  life  of  St.  Paul.  He  suggests  that  '  when  Paul  left 
Ephesus  for  the  last  time,  about  Pentecost,  i.e.  early 
summer  in  the  year  55  (56)  ...  he  not  only  sent  for  the 
disciples  and  exhorted  them  (Acts  xx.  i),  but  also  begged 
Timothy  to  stay  on  for  a  time  and  repress  unwholesome 
tendencies,  which  had  their  roots  in  Jewish  prejudices. 
Mr.  Bartlet  suggests  that  i  Timothy  was  written  '  on  board 
ship  after  leaving  Miletus  (Acts  xx.  2>^)^  to  supplement 
such  hurried  instructions  as  Paul  had  been  able  to  give 
his  lieutenant  before  sending  him  to  Ephesus,'  and  he 
brings  2  Tim.  iv.  20  into  the  First  Epistle,  and  applies  it  to 
the  same  occasion  {Apostolic  Age,  180-182). 

His  explanation  of  Titus  is  that  in  the  last  voyage  to 
Rome,  '  when  we  read  of  Paul's  considerable  stay  at  Fair 
Havens,  "nigh  to  which  was  a  city  Lasea,"  waiting  for  a 
change  in  the  wind,'  we  have  that  stay  in  Crete  referred 
to  in  Titus  i.  5  ;  '  And  Paul  the  prisoner  left  Titus  to  carry 
out  the  work  thus  hastily  begun.'  The  letter  to  Titus  is 
thus  dated  early  summer  of  59  (60). 

The  contrast  between  the  tone  of  2  Timothy  and  Philip- 
pians  Mr.  Bartlet  seeks  to  explain  by  tracing  a  gradual 
lessening  of  hope  during  the  two  years'  imprisonment  in 
Rome,  from  Colossians  and  Ephesians  to  Philippians, 
and  from  Philippians  to  2  Timothy. 

Mr.  Bartlet's  reason  for  making  this  fresh  attempt  is, 
that  he  feels  the  two  great  difficulties  which  have  to  be 
encountered  by  the  theory  of  a  second  imprisonment,  viz. 
(i)  the  absence  of  all  resentment  against  the  Govern- 
ment such  as  the  massacre  of  64  would  leave  behind 
(of.  I  Tim.  ii.  2),  and  of  any  reference  to  the  stirring 
events  in  Palestine  from  66  onward  ;   (2)  the  comparative 


14  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

youthfulness  attributed  to  Timothy  (2  Tim.  i.  2,  ii.  i,  22), 
seeing  in  67  he  had  been  known  to  Paul  for  eighteen 
years  and  was  thirty-eight  or  forty  years  of  age. 

But  Mr.  Bartlet's  attempt  seems  to  be  wrecked  on  the 
fact  that  his  theory  would  require  the  interposition  of 
Ephesians,  Colossians,  Philippians,  and  Philemon  between 
the  writing  of  i  Timothy  and  2  Timothy ;  that  is  to  say, 
it  makes  the  impossible  demand  that  the  style  and  ter- 
minology of  the  Pastorals  should  be  a  habit  which  is 
taken  up  and  laid  down  at  will.  The  only  justification 
of  a  Pauline  authorship  seems  to  me  to  lie  in  the  conten- 
tion that  in  the  last  four  years  of  his  life,  when  all  three 
letters  were  written,  the  Apostle's  letter-style  had  under- 
gone a  decisive  and  consistent  change. 

Another  effort  has  also  been  made  by  the  Rev.  W.  E. 
Bowen  in  two  essays,  entitled  The  Dates  of  the  Pastoral 
Letters  (1900),  to  reverse  the  judgement  of  Lightfoot,  and 
avoid  the  supposition  of  a  second  imprisonment.  But  if 
Mr.  Bartlet  has  failed  to  establish  his  contention,  Mr. 
Bowen  by  his  advocacy  has  rendered  the  contention  more 
suspicious  than  ever.  His  argument  demands  two  suppo- 
sitions, (i)  that  Paul's  moods  were  so  variable  that  he 
said  precisely  opposite  things  within  the  narrowest  limits 
of  time,  and  (2)  that  in  the  personal  letters  Paul  allowed 
himself  a  freedom  of  utterance  which  he  repressed  in  his 
letters  to  churches.  The  difference,  Mr.  Bowen  suggests, 
is  that  between  a  bishop  writing  a  pastoral  to  his  clergy 
and  sending  a  private  letter  to  his  archdeacon.  But  it 
will  be  observed  that  this  method  of  vindicating  the 
Pauline  authorship  of  the  Pastorals  is  suicidal.  VVe  may 
gain  the  Pastorals,  but  we  lose  Paul.  The  changeable 
temper  and  the  diplomatic  guile,  which  are  attributed  to 
the  Apostle,  reduce  his  authority  and  importance  as  a 
teacher  to  such  a  level  that  there  would  be  no  longer  any 
motive  for  ascribing  any  letters  to  him.  The  only  historical 
justification  of  the  letters  therefore  must  be  sought  in  the 
theory  of  Paul's  release  from  the  first  imprisonment  after 


INTRODUCTION 


15 


two  years  (cf.  Spitta,  '  The  Two  Roman  imprisonments  of 
Paul '  in  his  History  and  Literature  of  Early  Christianity y 
i.  3-108).  By  this  supposition  three,  or  even  five,  years 
may  be  added  to  the  life  of  the  Apostle,  and  in  that 
period  the  events  referred  to,  and  the  occasion  for  writing 
the  letters,  may  be  found.  This  theory  was  adopted  by 
Lightfoot  and  Hort,  and  is  defended  by  Dr.  Bernard 
and  by  Th.  Zahn  in  his  Neiv  Testament  Introduction, 
i.  435,  1897,  And  yet  this  last,  and  necessary,  hypothesis 
does  not  remove,  but  rather,  as  Mr.  Bartlet  sees,  increases 
another  set  of  difficulties,  viz.  : 

7.  The  Timothy  of  these  letters  appears  on  the  whole 
rather  as  a  young  worker  and  even  a  recent  convert  than 
as  a  tried  companion,  which  the  date  would  require  him  to 
be.  It  is  strange  to  find  such  references  to  his  conver- 
sion and  appointment  to  office,  which  happened  fourteen 
years  before,  as  occur  in  i  Tim.  i.  18,  iv.  14.  Equally  odd 
is  the  reference  to  his  youth,  which,  appropriate  enough 
in  I  Cor.  xvi.  11,  seems  suspicious  when  fourteen  years  of 
service  have  passed  away.  Then  the  injunction  to  drink 
wine,  I  Tim.  v.  23,  which  we  may  be  sure  was  a  real 
recommendation  of  Paul  to  his  disciple  (for  what  forger 
would  have  dreamed  of  such  an  invention  ?),  yet  comes  in 
very  abruptly  where  it  stands.  Again,  how  abrupt  and 
even  cold  the  conclusion  of  the  letter  is,  addressed  to  one 
so  loved  and  trusted  as  Timothy,  in  comparison  with 
Paul's  hngering  and  affectionate  manner  in  closing  his 
letters  !  It  requires  too  a  certain  ingenuity,  as  the  com- 
mentary will  shew,  to  justify  the  references  to  Timothy's 
early  youth  and  to  the  early  persecutions,  2  Tim.  i.  6, 
iii.  II,  14,  coming  as  they  do  so  late  on  in  the  mutual 
relations  between  Paul  and  Timothy.  There  is  also  in 
the  tone  of  self-defence,  l  Tim.  i.  12,  ii.  7  ;  2  Tim.  i.  3,  II, 
though  eminently  characteristic  of  Paul  in  writing  to 
communities,  something  inappropriate,  when  he  is  writing 
to  his  own  son  in  the  faith  whom  he  had  known  and  loved 
for  years. 


i6  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  shall  sec  in  analysing  Zahn's 
introduction,  there  are  many  passages  in  these  letters 
which  carry  their  genuineness  on  their  face,  and  are  of 
such  a  kind  that  it  is  psychologically  impossible  to  imagine 
a  forger  conceiving  them. 

In  view  then  of  these  difficulties,  some  slight,  others 
serious,  but  in  their  totality  occasioning  great  hesitation 
in  accepting  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistles,  we  may  be 
tempted  to  fall  back  on  the  view  advanced  by  Lemme  and 
Hesse,  favoured  by  Harnack,  and  adopted  heartily  by 
Prof.  McGiffert,  that  '  we  have  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
authentic  letters  of  Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus  worked 
over  and  enlarged  by  another  hand.'  The  ingenuity  of 
the  analysis  may  be  suspicious  ;  but  as  it  is  a  way  of 
meeting  the  difficulties,  and  of  retaining  Paul  while  we 
also,  in  a  sense,  retain  the  letters,  it  is  worth  mentioning. 
In  2  Timothy,  thinks  McGiffert,  we  have  two  letters  com- 
bined by  a  later  hand  ;  and  the  combination  is  plain  on 
the  surface,  because  up  to  ch.  iv.  9  the  whole  point  is  to 
direct  Timothy  in  his  work  at  Ephesus,  and  yet  from  iv.  9 
onwards  the  purpose  is  to  bring  him  as  quickly  as  possible 
to  Rome.  The  two  letters  may  be  thus  picked  out :  (i)  a 
letter  written  from  Rome  some  weeks  after  the  letters  to 
Colossians  and  Philemon,  which  gives  a  few  interesting 
details  of  the  imprisonment  between  that  time  and  the 
end,  i.  1-12,  ii.  1-13,  iv.  1-2,  5-8,  16-19,  21^  10,  i.  15-18. 
This  interesting  letter  would  be  Paul's  latest  utterance, 
his  last  will  and  testament.  (2)  Another  letter  written 
perhaps  from  Macedonia  after  Paul  had  left  Ephesus  for 
the  last  time  (Acts  xx.  i ;  2  Cor.  ii.  12,  vii.  5).  Timothy 
obeyed  the  injunction,  so  that  he  was  with  Paul  when 
2  Corinthians  was  written.  This  letter  was  iv.  9,  11-15, 
21*. 

The  Epistle  to  Titus  was  originally  iii.  1-7,  12,  13, 
written  from  Achaia,  Acts  xx.  I,  9,  about  A.  D.  52.  The 
First  Epistle  to  Timothy  shews  hardly  any  of  Paul's  own 
writing,  perhaps   i.  3  the  beginning  of  the  anacoluthon 


INTRODUCTION  17 

there,  and  v.  23.  With  these  fragments  the  author  wrote 
a  letter  in  the  Pauline  manner,  as  with  the  other  fragments 
he  composed  the  other  two  letters,  weaving  in  ideas  which 
he  felt  that  his  master  Paul  would  have  advanced  under 
the  changed  circumstances  of  the  church  and  of  the  times. 
The  author,  whoever  he  was,  must  have  written  before 
Polycarp  and  Ignatius, and,  as  we  saw,  even  before  Clement 
of  Rome,  and  therefore  at  the  end  of  the  first  century. 
In  the  passages  therefore  which  are  not  Paul's  we  have  a 
glimpse  into  the  developing  church  just  after  the  apostolic 
times.  That  the  author  was  thoroughly  Pauline,  without 
fully  understanding  Paul's  inner  thought,  would  be  evident 
throughout.  Schott  conjectured  that  the  author  who  thus, 
using  Paul's  fragments  as  a  basis,  produced  the  Pastorals, 
was  Luke.  And  it  is  very  interesting  to  note  the  points 
of  contact  between  our  letters  and  Luke's  writing:  — 

The  phrase  '  I  give  thanks,'  a  Latinism,  i  Tim.  i.  12  ; 
2  Tim.  i.  3,  is  in  Luke  xvii.  9. 

The  construction  for  '  give  heed  to/  I  Tim.  i.  4,  iii.  8, 
iv.  I,  13,  is  in  Acts  viii.  6,  10,  xx.  28. 

The  verb  *  to  quicken,'  in  i  Tim.  vi.  13,  is  only  found 
in  Luke  xvii.  ^;^  ;  Acts  vii.  19. 

Compare  the  description  of  the  widow,  i  Tim.  v.  5,  with 
that  of  Anna,  Luke  ii.  ;^7. 

2  Tim.  i.  3,  5,  Paul's  description  of  his  upbringing,  seems 
taken  from  Acts  xxiv.  14. 

So  the  persecution,  2  Tim.  iii.  11,  is  from  Acts  xiii.  50, 
xiv.  2,  19. 

The  phrase  'trusting  in  God,'  Titus  iii.  8,  is  in  Acts 
xvi.  34. 

The  word  for  'offtce'  {episcop^)^  in  i  Tim.  iii.  i,  is  in 
Acts  i.  20. 

Also  the  characteristic  word  '  godliness'  of  the  Pastorals 
is,  with  the  exception  of  2  Pet.  i.  3,  6,  7,  iii.  1 1,  only  used 
by  Luke.  Perhaps  also  the  mention  of  Luke  in  2  Tim. 
iv.  II  suggests  that  he  might  have  been  the  author. 

Grau,  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  that  Timothy  himself 

c 


i8  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

worked  up  these  letters  and  tried  to  give  expression  to 
some  of  the  things  which  he  had  learnt  from  his  beloved 
master.  If  Schott's  conjecture  could  be  established  we 
should  be  able  to  add  these  compositions  to  Luke  and 
Acts  as  the  work  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  Paul's  com- 
panions. If  Grau's  conjecture  were  correct  we  should 
have  something  from  the  pen  of  Paul's  dearest  disciple. 

These  conjectures,  however,  are  ingenious  rather  than 
convincing ;  and  it  is  only  important  to  insist  that  who- 
ever worked  up  the  fragments  and  inserted  the  rest  of 
these  Epistles  did  the  work  in  good  faith,  endeavouring 
to  the  best  of  his  ability,  and  with  much  success,  to  pre- 
serve, if  not  the  teaching,  yet  the  general  trend  of  the 
Apostle's  thought.  Of  forger}^,  as  we  understand  the 
word,  there  can  here  be  no  question. 

The  advantage  of  Prof.  TvIcGiffert's  hypothesis  is  that 
we  escape  the  necessity  of  imagining  a  release  from  the 
first  imprisonment,  and  we  get  a  glimpse  of  Paul's  mind 
after  writing  Colossians  and  Philemon,  and  just  before  his 
execution.  This  certainly  is  an  advantage,  because  after  all 
Spitta's  argumentation  there  is  no  reference  to  Paul's 
journey  to  Spain  in  set  terms  until  we  come  to  the  Mura- 
torian  Fragment,  and  to  Origen  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century,  while  the  phrase  in  Clement  of  Rome  that  Paul 
went '  to  the  term  of  the  West '  was  understood  by  all  the 
Fathers  to  refer  to  Rome.  It  is  also  a  great  objection  to 
the  supposed  extension  of  his  life  that  in  Spain  there  is  no 
faint  tradition  of  Paul  having  been  there,  and  yet,  con- 
sidering the  eagerness  of  legend  to  attach  the  conversion 
of  a  country  to  a  visit  of  an  apostle,  we  may  be  sure  no 
slightest  hint  would  have  been  neglected.  And  further, 
if  Paul  had  been  acquitted  on  the  appeal  to  Caesar  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine  why  the  early  apologists  did  not  make 
use  of  the  fact  in  their  appeals  to  Roman  emperors. 

And  yet  the  temptation  to  accept  McGiffert's  hypothesis 
should,  I  believe,  be  resisted.  It  is  too  ingenious  ;  and  the 
hopeless  attempt  to  disentangle  what   is   Pauline   from 


INTRODUCTION  19 

what  was  added  by  the  supposed  author,  reduces  the 
value  of  the  whole  work  for  the  ordinary  reader. 

As  therefore  the  Pauline  elements  are  unquestionable, 
and  as  it  is  not  possible  to  say  with  confidence  what,  or 
if  any,  of  these  Epistles  is  not  Pauline,  I  have  thought  it 
best  to  lay  before  the  reader  a  brief  analysis  of  the  latest 
Introduction  to  the  Epistles^  that  of  Prof.  Th.  Zahn. 
Without  attempting  to  refute  Holtzmann  in  detail,  he 
develops  the  whole  argument  in  such  a  way  as  to  establish 
a  rationale  for  accepting  the  genuineness.  In  view  of  my 
own  inability  to  decide  between  contending  hypotheses, 
or  to  suggest  a  new  one,  and  profoundly  convinced  as  I 
am  of  the  spiritual  value  of  these  Epistles,  I  feel  that  the 
greatest  service  that  I  can  render  the  reader  is,  after 
stating  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  the  Pauline 
authorship,  to  put  before  him  the  arguments  of  the  latest, 
and  a  thoroughly  competent,  scholar,  in  favour  of  believ- 
ing, with  whatever  hesitation,  and  in  spite  of  all  objections, 
that  we  have  here  three  letters  actually  written  by  Paul. 

This  will  form  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Introduction  to  the  Pastorals. 

The  two  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  the  one  to  Titus  are 
described  as  the  Pastorals  (the  term  seems  to  have 
originated  with  Wegscheider  in  1810),  because,  unlike  the 
other  letters  of  Paul,  they  are  for  the  most  part  composed 
of  private  directions  to  two  of  his  followers  whom  he  had 
appointed  to  certain  pastoral  work,  and  more  than  all  the 
other  letters  they  describe  the  way  in  which  a  pastor 
should  behave  in  the  Church  of  God. 

These  three  Epistles  stand  closely  related  together  in 
diction,  theology,  and  general  circumstances ;  and  they 
are,  in  all  these  respects,  separated  from  the  other  letters 
of  Paul.     It  is   this   segregation   which   has   raised   the 

C  7 


20  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

question  of  their  authenticity.  But  to  determine  whether 
they  are  authentic,  or  even  to  understand  why  their 
authenticity  should  be  questioned,  it  is  necessary  first  of 
all  to  examine  the  letters  and  their  contents. 

First  let  us  look  at  2  Timothy,  because  that  letter 
presents  us  with  the  richest  material  for  determining  the 
date  and  the  conditions  under  which  it  was  written.  A 
careful  reading  reveals  the  following  facts  : — 

1.  The  writer  was  in  prison  on  account  of  his  work  as 
a  Christian  missionary  (i.  8,  16,  ii.  9)  at  Rome  (i.  17). 

2.  The  situation  is  totally  different  from  that  in  the 
Epistles  of  the  imprisonment — Ephesians,  Colossians, 
Philemon,  and  Philippians.  In  Phil.  i.  12-18  Paul  is 
surrounded  by  friends  who  are  interested  in  his  testimony, 
and  engaged,  after  their  own  fashion,  in  echoing  it.  But 
in  our  letter  Paul  is  a  lonely  and  wellnigh  deserted 
prisoner.  At  one  time  in  this  imprisonment  he  was  so 
secluded  that  Onesiphorus,  coming  from  Asia  Minor,  had 
some  ado  to  find  him  out  (i.  17).  And  later,  when  he  was 
in  some  touch  with  the  brethren  in  Rome  (iv.  21),  he  was 
still  far  from  enjoying  that  full  intercourse  which  is  re- 
flected in  the  other  letters  of  imprisonment. 

Again,  in  Philippians  he  was  looking  forward  to  release 
and  a  further  ministry  :  here  he  speaks  of  his  course  as 
finished.  His  one  prospect  is  the  promised  crown,  and  he 
is  writing  to  his  younger  friend  with  the  intention  of  com- 
mitting to  him  the  task  which  he  himself  was  laying  down. 

3.  This  complete  change  can  hardly  have  taken  place 
in  the  course  of  the  two  years'  imprisonment,  and  we  are 
therefore  led  to  suppose  that  this  is  another  and  a  later 
imprisonment.  And  the  reference  to  the  former  trial 
which  ended  in  an  acquittal  is  tolerably  clear  (iv.  16,  17). 

Further  marks  are  not  wanting  which  suggest  that  the 
interval  between  the  first  and  second  imprisonment,  of 
which  we  should  know  nothing  but  for  tradition,  and  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  was  the  most  fruitful  period  of  the 
Apostle's  life.    After  that  deliverance,  of  which  Scripture 


INTRODUCTION  21 

elsewhere  says  nothing,  Paul  apparently  fulfilled  his 
intention  of  visiting  Spain  ;  otherwise  he  could  scarcely 
have  spoken  of  having  finished  his  course  (iv.  7).  He 
reached  the  Gentiles  in  a  more  abundant  way  than  ever 
before  (iv.  17) ;  and  from  his  prison  he  had  managed  to 
dispatch  missionaries  to  Gaul  and  Dalmatia,  tw^o  countries, 
the  evangelization  of  which  we  should  not  otherwise  know 
from  Scripture  (iv.  10). 

But  his  journeys  in  this  interval  had  been  not  only  to 
new  regions  but  also  over  the  old  ground.  He  had  been 
at  Miletus,  where  he  had  left  Trophimus  sick,  and  at  Troas, 
where  he  had  left  a  cloak  which  he  wanted  before  winter, 
and  some  books  and  papers  (iv.  20,  13).  Apparently  he 
had  only  recently  left  Timothy  in  tears  (i.  4)  before  com- 
ing to  Rome  on  the  journey  which  ended  in  this  final 
imprisonment. 

4.  The  letter  therefore  seems  to  be  sent  to  the  dear 
younger  companion,  whom  he  had  unwillingly  left  behind, 
to  urge  him  to  come  quickly  to  Rome.  If  legend  is  right 
in  regarding  Iconium  as  the  home  of  Onesiphorus  (i.  16), 
Timothy  was  probably  at  Iconium.  He  was  not  at  Ephesus, 
the  scene  of  his  old  ministerial  labours,  or  Tychicus  would 
have  been  commended  to  him  there  (iv.  12).  He  would 
have  to  pass  through  Troas  (iv.  13)  in  order  to  come  to 
Rome.  At  Troas  in  all  probability  Paul  had  encoun- 
tered Alexander  the  coppersmith,  and  he  felt  it  necessary 
to  warn  his  subordinate  of  Alexander's  ways  (verse  14). 

5.  The  letter  is  a  last  testament.  The  writer  feels  that 
he  may  not  be  living,  though  he  hopes  he  may,  when 
Timothy  arrives.  He  writes  down  his  most  important 
directions  to  his  successor,  in  case  they  should  not  meet 
again,  how  Timothy  must  take  up  the  fight  in  defence 
of  the  truth,  and  resist  the  threatening  invasion  of  errors. 
The  charge  is  solemn  and  pathetic  (iv.  I-18).  'Come 
quickly  to  me,  my  son,*  says  the  dying  man  ;  '  but  if  you 
cannot  come  in  time,  I  leave  you  these  final  injunctions 
that  you  may  carry  on  my  work.' 


22  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

6.  And  quite  in  harmony  with  its  character  of  a  dying 
testament,  the  letter  harks  back  to  the  early  days  and  the 
first  experiences.  Paul  had  been  thinking  it  all  over — 
Timothy  as  a  young  man  at  Lystra,  with  his  pious  Jewish 
mother  and  grandmother,  and  heathen  father;  the  perilous 
experiences  in  those  far-gone  missionary  tours,  at  Antioch, 
Iconium,  and  Lystra.  The  childhood  of  his  beloved  son 
occurs  to  him  ;  he  thinks  of  all  the  grounding  in  Scripture 
which  the  mother  and  the  grandmother  gave  the  boy 
before  the  news  of  Jesus  the  Messiah  reached  them.  It  is 
an  old  man  speaking  to  a  young  man,  a  dying  man  to  one 
who  spiritually  is  to  be  his  heir.  It  is  a  pathetic  fallacy 
that  when  a  father  or  a  pastor  has  known  a  young  man 
for  years,  as  the  relative  ages  remain  fixed,  the  elder 
always  thinks  of  the  younger  as  still  young.  We  are  told 
of  an  old  woman  of  90  who  heard  of  the  death  of  her 
firstborn  at  the  age  of  70,  and  exclaimed:  'Ah  me!  I 
always  said  we  should  never  rear  her.'  This  is  the  situa- 
tion which  the  reader  finds  implied  in  the  Second  Epistle 
to  Timothy. 

Turning  to  i  Timothy  we  find  that  the  notes  of  time 
and  circumstance  are  more  scanty.  But  at  the  outset  the 
similarity  of  style  to  that  of  2  Timothy,  and  the  decided 
gap  which  separates  the  Pastorals  from  the  style  of  the 
other  PauUne  Epistles,  gives  a  strong  prima  facie  reason 
for  placing  this  letter  too  in  the  period  which  we  are 
obliged  by  the  Pastorals  to  posit  between  a  first  and  final 
imprisonment  of  Paul. 

In  this  letter  the  writer  is  not  a  prisoner,  nor  apprehen- 
sive of  arrest,  for  he  hopes  soon  to  join  his  correspondent 
(iii.  14,  iv.  13).  But  he  is  on  a  journey,  or  contemplating 
a  journey,  into  Macedonia  (i.  3),  and  his  object  in  writ- 
ing is  to  induce  Timothy  to  remain,  apparently  against 
his  will,  in  Ephesus.  Paul  gives  him  directions  for  carrying 
out  the  task  with  which  he  had  entrusted  him  in  that  city 
and  the  district  round  it.  This  journey  cannot  be,  as  Hug 
maintains,  and  as  Mr.  Bartlet's  view  requires,  that  of  Acts 


INTRODUCTION  23 

XX.  I,  for  we  infer  from  2  Cor.  i.  i  that  Timothy  ac- 
companied Paul  on  that  occasion  (cf.  Acts  xx.  4 ;  2  Cor. 
i.  8,  vii.  5).  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  Hug  can  evade  this 
fact.  Nor  is  it  possible,  with  Reuss  and  Wieseler,  to 
suppose  that  this  letter  could  have  been  written  during  a 
temporary  absence  in  the  course  of  Paul's  three  years* 
ministry  at  Ephesus.  For,  not  to  mention  that  Acts  gives 
no  hint  of  such  an  absence,  Timothy  would  not  need 
directions  of  this  kind  when  he  was  engaged  in  work 
side  by  side  with  his  master. 

Here,  then,  as  much  as  in  2  Timothy,  the  authenticity 
of  the  Epistle  can  only  be  successfully  maintained  by 
referring  it  to  that  period  of  liberation,  travel,  and  labour, 
between  the  first  imprisonment  at  Rome  and  the  last,  for 
which  the  Pastoral  letters  are  our  sole  authority. 

The  task  which  Timothy  is  enjoined  to  discharge  dififers 
essentially  from  that  referred  to  in  the  Second  Epistle ; 
there  he  was,  like  his  master,  an  evangelist  (2  Tim.  i.  6), 
and  his  function  was  to  carry  on  the  missionary  labours  of 
the  dying  Apostle  ;  here  his  function  is  a  special  office  of 
administration  which  was  committed  to  him  for  a  time  in 
the  absence  of  Paul,  and  from  which,  it  would  seem,  he 
was  only  too  anxious  to  be  released.  The  function  was 
that  of  organizing  and  administering  churches  in  Ephesus 
and  the  neighbourhood.  He  had  to  settle  the  character 
and  qualifications  for  the  offices  of  elders  and  deacons ; 
he  had  to  arrange  the  very  delicate  question  of  the  relation 
of  widows  to  the  church  ;  he  had  to  order  the  public 
services  ;  he  had  to  see  that  the  elders  were  duly  sup- 
ported and  honoured ;  he  had  to  control  the  teaching,  to 
avoid  the  useless  and  secure  the  salutary  doctrine. 

Even  in  the  time  of  Eusebius  {Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  4,  6.) 
this  office  was  regarded  as  an  episcopate,  and  Timothy 
was  thus  supposed  to  be  the  earliest  example  of  a  diocesan 
bishop.  But  that  is  a  mistake.  *To  call  the  position  of 
Timothy  at  Ephesus  episcopal,'  says  Zahn  {Iiit7-odiiction  to 
New  TestiiDient^  vol.  ii.  §  34,  p.  421),  would  only  be  possible 


24  rHE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

by  a  gross  historical  blunder,  for  the  episcopal  office,  in 
which  the  one  bishop  at  the  head  of  the  presbytery  formed 
the  summit  of  the  church  organization,  was  a  lifelong  office 
attached  and  confined  to  a  particular  community.'  But 
Timothy  was  only  a  temporary  representative  of  Paul, 
carrying  out  those  duties  of  organization  which  Paul  him- 
self had  discharged  elsewhere.  Timothy  had  repeatedly 
discharged  such  an  office  before  (i  Cor.  iv.  17;  i  Thess.  iii. 
2  ;  Phil.  ii.  19-23).  The  best  illustrations  of  his  office  are 
found  in  the  similar  work  of  Titus  in  Crete  (Titus  i.  5),  and 
in  the  interesting  description  which  Clement  of  Alexandria 
gives  of  John's  work  in  Ephesus  at  a  later  period :  'When,' 
he  says,  'on  the  death  of  the  tyrant,  John  came  from  the 
island  of  Patmos  to  Ephesus,  he  used  to  go  out  into  the 
surrounding  districts  preaching,  in  some  places  to  appoint 
bishops,  in  others  to  organize  churches,  in  others  to 
choose  by  lot  some  one  of  those  who  were  indicated  by 
the  Spirit '  ( IV/io  is  the  Rich  Man,  42). 

This  important  but  temporary  office,  which  exactly 
corresponds  to  that  of  a  missionary  in  the  foreign  field  at 
the  present  day,  presented  pecuhar  difficulties.  Timothy 
was  a  man  under  forty,  and  the  older  people  at  Ephesus 
were  disposed  to  despise  his  youth.  Against  the  dis- 
qualification of  youth  the  Apostle  set  the  Christian  life 
which  he  urged  his  disciple  to  lead  (iv.  12),  and  reminded 
him  of  the  spiritual  gift  which  he  had  received  for  the 
discharge  of  his  difficult  duty  ^.     And  the  most  distinctive 

^  It  is  worth  noting  that  in  speaking  to  Timothy  as  an 
evangelist,  and  as  his  own  fellow  worker,  Paul  refers  to  'the 
gift  of  God  which  is  In  thee  by  the  laying  on  of  my  hands  '  (2  Tim. 
i.  6).  On  the  other  hand,  in  speaking  to  Timothy  here  (i  Tim. 
iv.  14)  as  the  administrator  of  churches,  he  refers  to  'the  gift 
that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery.'  Assuming  that  both  passages 
refer  to  the  same  occasion,  on  which  Paul  and  the  presbyters 
ordained  Timothy  together,  we  must  suppose  that  the  Apostle 
emphasizes  his  own  or  the  presbytery's  part  in  the  work  according 
to  the  context.  But  it  is  not  impossible  that  for  the  work  of  an 
evangelist,  Paul  the  great  evangelist  laid  his  hands  on  the  young 


INTRODUCTION  25 

personal  touch  occurs  in  the  medical  prescription  which 
the  Apostle  gives  to  the  ailing  minister  (v.  23).  Other 
personal  touches  are  conspicuously  rare.  But  the  mention 
of  Hymenasus  and  Alexander  (i.  20)  connects  this  Epistle 
with  2  Timothy,  where  the  personal  touches  are  more 
frequent  (2  Tim.  ii.  17,  iv.  14). 

The  question  whether  the  church  organization  implied 
in  this  letter  can  be  historically  connected  with  Paul  was 
referred  to  in  chap,  i,  and  must  be  touched  on  again.  Mean- 
while we  gather  from  the  letter  itself  that  in  those  last 
vigorous  years,  with  the  shadow  of  death  upon  him,  he 
was  training  his  lieutenants  to  found  and  settle  churches 
as  he  had  done  from  the  commencement  of  his  missionary 
labours.  And  though  with  some  anxiety  about  Timothy's 
steadfastness  (e.g.  vi.  1 1,  20)  he  clung  to  the  belief  that  he 
would  have  in  him  'a  true  child  in  faith.'  And,  assuming 
the  genuineness  of  the  letter  for  the  moment,  we  may 
surmise  that  he  wrote  down  these  directions  with  the  feel- 
ing that  if  his  hope  of  soon  meeting  again  should  be  frus- 
trated, the  letter  would  serve  as  a  manual  of  church  order, 
and  possibly  as  a  mandate  of  authority  which  Timothy 
might  present  to  all  and  sundry  churches  according 
to  need.  This  last  requirement  might  explain  in  part  the 
absence  of  salutations  and  other  personal  references  \  as 
well  as  the  closing  benediction,  'Grace  be  with  you,'  where 
'  you '  is  plural,  and  would  include  the  societies  to  which  this 
testimonial  from  the  Apostle's  hand  might  be  read. 

In  the  Epistle  to  Titus  a  situation  is  revealed  for  which 
we  search  in  vain  among  the  records  of  Acts  (unless  Mr. 
Bartlet's  doubtful  suggestion  were  possible)  or  the  other 
Epistles  of  Paul.  And  as,  by  phraseology  and  general 
conception,  this  Epistle  hangs  very  closely  with  i  Timothy 

man's  head  at  the  beg-inning-,  while  for  the  special  work  in  the 
district  of  Ephesus  the  presbytery  of  the  church  there  laid  hands 
on  their  appointed  director.  This  latter  supposition  gives  by  far 
the  clearer  account  of  the  contrast  between  i  Tim.  iv.  I4  and 
2  Tim.  i.  6, 
'  See  p.  8. 


26  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

— they  are  as  intimately  connected  as  Ephesians  and 
Colossians — we  may  assume  that,  if  this  is  a  genuine 
Epistle  of  Paul's,  it  gives  us  another  glimpse  into  his 
career  between  the  first  and  the  supposed  final  imprison- 
ment in  Rome.  Crete,  Nicopolis,  and,  we  may  add, 
Artemas  and  Zenas,  introduce  us  to  a  new  cycle  in  the 
Apostle's  busy  life. 

This  is  the  situation.  Paul,  accompanied  by  Titus,  one 
of  his  own  converts  (i.  4),  had  visited  Crete,  and  in  that 
'  hundred-citied '  isle  they  had  succeeded  in  gathering 
together  believers,  largely,  as  usual,  from  the  Jewish  com- 
munities. But  Paul  had  left  before  the  rather  troublesome 
population  could  be  organized  into  churches— he  speaks 
of  the  Christians  only  as  'they  who  have  beheved'and 
'our  people,'  not  yet  as  churches — and  he  commissioned 
Titus  to  remain  and  carry  out  the  work  which  in  other 
cases  Paul  himself  had  been  able  to  achieve  more  rapidly 
(e.g.  at  Thessalonica  elders  were  appointed  after  three 
weeks  of  ministry,  i  Thess.  v.  12  :  cf.  Acts  xiv.  23). 
\/  The  work  entrusted  to  Titus  was  more  arduous  than 
that  entruste:!  to  Timothy  at  Ephesus  in  two  respects. 
In  the  first  place,  the  communities  were  newer  and  more 
inchoate.  In  the  second  place,  the  human  material  in 
Crete  was  recalcitrant.  The  work  was  hindered  by  many 
unruly  men,  vain  talkers,  and  deceivers,  who  subverted 
whole  families,  apparently  by  antinomian  doctrines.  The 
worst  of  these  adversaries  were  Jews  (i.  10,  14-16,  iii.  9). 
How  bitterly  they  opposed  Paul  and  his  lieutenant  appears 
from  the  guarded  salutation  with  which  the  letter  closes, 
'  Salute  them  that  love  us  in  faith ' ;  evidently  there  were 
some  who  had  no  love  or  respect  for  the  Apostle  or  his 
representative. 

It  is  because  the  task  is  difficult  that  the  letter  opens 
with  a  much  fuller  and  more  emphatic  statement  of  the 
Apostle's  call  and  authority  than  was  needed  in  writing  to 
Timothy  at  Ephesus.  And  evidently  it  was  an  open  letter 
which  might  be  shewn  freely  to  gainsayers. 


INTRODUCTION  27 

Titus's  commission,  like  that  of  Timothy  in  Ephesus, 
was  only  provisional,  for  another  commissioner  was  on 
the  way,  and  when  either  Artemas  or  Tychicus  (frequently 
mentioned  in  Acts  and  Epistles  :  Acts.  xx.  4 ;  Eph.  vi. 
21 ;  Col.  iv.  7;  2  Tim.  iv.  12)  should  reach  Crete,  Titus  was 
to  be  released.  This  seems  to  refute  the  early  tradition 
mentioned  by  Eusebius  {Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  4, 6)  and  repeated  in 
many  legendary  sources,  that  Titus  was  bishop  of  Crete. 

Released  from  Crete,  Titus  was  to  join  the  Apostle  at 
Nicopolis,  which  means  City  of  Victory,  where  he  intended 
to  winter.  There  were  many  cities,  marking  a  victory, 
which  bore  this  propitious  name.  But  early  writers  took 
it  for  granted  that  the  Nicopolis  mentioned  here  was  the 
one  which  marked  the  scene  of  the  battle  of  Actium,  on 
the  Ambracian  Gulf.  One  would  like  to  think  that  the 
Apostle  spent  a  winter  in  the  city  which  was  afterwards 
rendered  illustrious  by  the  teaching  of  Epictetus,  the  Stoic 
philosopher  who,  among  the  heathen,  stands  nearest  to 
the  great  Apostle. 

If  we  may  suppose  that  Titus  carried  out  this  direction, 
and  met  his  father  in  the  faith  at  Nicopolis,  we  can  under- 
stand how  he  passed  to  the  neighbouring  Dalmatia  on 
a  mission,  when  Paul,  returning  to  Rome,  fell  again  into 
the  hands  of  the  authorities  (2  Tim.  iv.  10). 

The  mention  of  Zenas,  otherwise  unknown,  and  of 
Apollos,  one  of  the  best  known  of  the  Pauline  circle,  in 
iii.  J  3,  seems  to  imply  that  they  were  the  bearers  of  the 
present  letter  to  Titus. 

'The  three  letters,'  says  Zahn  {Inirodtiction,  ii.  435), 
*  which  we  are  accustomed  to  group  together  under  the 
inappropriate  name  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  would  have 
to  be  judged  as  unhistorical  fabrications  if  we  knew  that 
the  Roman  imprisonment  of  Paul,  in  which  he  wrote 
Ephesians,  Colossians,  Philemon,  and  Philippians,  had 
ended  with  his  death.' 

Apart  from  these  letters,  historical  evidences  for  his 
liberation  from  that  first  imprisonment  are  wanting;  and 


28  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

while  this  fact  has  been  urged  as  an  argument  against 
the  authenticity  of  the  letters,  it  has  induced  the  defendcis 
of  the  authenticity  to  make  all,  and  even  the  most  violent, 
attempts  to  bring  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the 
letters  within  the  period  which  is  covered  by  the  history 
of  Acts  and  the  other  Epistles  of  Paul.  But  while  our 
authorities  are,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  uncertain  hints, 
silent  about  a  release  and  a  subsequent  period  of  work 
before  the  final  imprisonment  and  death  of  Paul,  we  may 
fairly  urge  that  everything  in  the  Acts  and  the  other 
Epistles  led  to  the  expectation  of  such  a  release.  (See 
especially  Phil.  i.  19,  25,  ii.  24,  and  Philemon  22,  which 
shew  Paul's  own  strong  hope ' ;  and  Acts  xxv.  18,  25, 
xxvi.  31,  xxviii.  15,  18,  which  prove  that  even  the  outside 
world  saw  no  probability  of  a  fatal  termination  to  his  first 
trial.)  The  way  in  which  Acts  ends  implies  that  there 
was  a  further  period  of  the  Apostle's  life  to  describe,  if  the 
writer  should  have  opportunity.  One  may  further  urge 
that  even  if  the  three  letters  were  fabrications,  the  author  of 
them  would  hardly  have  sketched  an  historical  background 
with  references  to  new  mission  work  in  Crete,  Dalmatia, 
and  Gaul,  unless  his  probable  readers  had  some  ground 
for  beheving  that  the  Apostle,  after  his  first  imprisonment, 
had  engaged  in  these  fresh  enterprises.  So  that  even  if 
the  author  of  these  letters  is  a  pseudo-Paul,  writing  be- 
tween 70  and  140  A.D.,  he  is  yet  a  witness  to  the  extended 
life  of  which  we  are  speaking. 

To  such  an  extension  of  Paul's  life  and  ministry  the 
Epistle  of  Clement  may  be  said  to  furnish  a  dubious  sup- 
port. Writing  about  the  year  96,  this  Roman  writer,  who, 
according  to  Ireuceus,  may  have  been  in  personal  contact 


^  Baur  in  his  Pastoral  Letters,  p.  92)  cited  Actsxx.  25,  38,  as 
an  argument;  to  shew  that  Paul  cannot  have  visited  Asia  Minor 
again.  But  'no  more'  does  not  mean  'again';  it  refers  only 
to  the  close  and  intimate  fellowship  of  the  three  years  which 
could  be  continued  '  no  longer.' 


INTRODUCTION  29 

with  Peter  and  Paul,  says  :  '  Let  us  set  before  our  eyes 
the  good  apostles  ;  Peter,  who  on  account  of  misguided 
zeal  endured  not  one  nor  two  but  many  sufferings,  and  so 
having  borne  witness  went  to  his  merited  place  of  giory. 
On  account  of  zeal  and  strife  Paul  shewed  a  victor-prize 
of  patience  :  seven  times  he  bore  bonds  ;  was  exiled,  was 
stoned.  A  herald  in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  he  received 
the  noble  fame  of  his  faith.  Having  taught  the  whole 
world  righteousness,  and  having  gone  to  the  term  of  the 
West\  and  having  borne  witness  before  rulers,  he  was 
thus  released  from  the  world  and  went  to  the  holy  place, 
made  the  greatest  ensample  of  patience  '  (1  Clem.  v.  3-7). 

This  passage,  by  mentioning  seven  imprisonments, 
obliges  us  to  add  to  the  list  mentioned  in  the  Acts,  and 
makes  a  second  imprisonment  in  Rome  probable.  And 
'  the  term  of  the  West '  can  only  be  understood  in  a 
Roman  writer  as  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic ;  and  thus 
Clement  implies  that  Paul  visited  Spain.  Mr.  Bartlet 
{Apostolic  Age,  p.  202)  not  only  maintains  that  the  '  bound 
of  the  W^est '  might,  even  in  the  lips  of  a  writer  in  Rome, 
mean  Rome,  but  he  argues  that  Clement  could  not  have 
imagined  Paul  alive  after  64,  since  he  says  that  the  martyrs 
of  the  Neronian  persecution  in  that  year  were  'gathered 
to  Peter  and  Paul.'  '  And  so,'  says  Mr.  Bartlet,  '  Clement 
goes  over  bodily  to  the  other  side.'  And  we  must  freely 
admit  that  if  Paul's  visit  to  Spain  rested  on  this  indeter- 
minate phrase  of  Clement,  or  if  it  were  necessary  to  attach 
a  high  authority  to  the  words  and  judgements  of  Clement, 
it  would  be  hopeless  to  maintain  that  prolongation  of 
Paul's  life  for  which  we  are  contending. 

But  that  the  journey  to  Spain  was  carried  out  is  main- 

^  Funk,  Apostolic  Fathers,  p.  68.  'The  term  of  the  West  was 
by  the  ancients  thought  to  be  Spain,  Iberia,  or  Britain,  (Strabo, 
ii.  c.  1,4,  iii.  c.  2.)  Clement  therefore,  if  you  omit  these  islands, 
says  that  Paul  went  as  far  as  Spain.  Some  scholars  wrongly 
understand  by  the  term  of  the  West,  Rome,  "  the  place  of  the 
West  where  he  had  contended  or  finished  his  life's  course."  But 
the  place  .  .  .  was  Spain.' 


30  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

tallied  by  a  constant  tradition.  For  instance,  the  Mura- 
torian  Canon  (circ.  200  A.  D.)  speaks  of  '  Paul  setting  out 
from  the  city  to  Spain.'  And  this  seems  to  rest  on  the 
Gnostic  Ads  of  Peter  and  John^  which  must  be  dated 
about  160  A. D.  In  the  Acts  of  Peter  there  is  even  a 
detail  given  of  the  liberation  from  the  first  imprisonment ; 
'  the  prison-guard  Quartus,'  we  read,  *  permitted  Paul  to 
leave  the  city  when  he  would,'  because  he  himself  had 
become  a  convert.  The  ecclesiastical  tradition  gathering 
round  the  Feast  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  June  29,  dates  from 
258  A.D. ;  and  in  its  manifold  inconsistencies  it  cannot  be 
cited  as  an  historical  testimony.  It  does  not  even  decide 
whether  Peter  and  Paul  were  martyred  at  the  same  time. 
But  it  points  to  a  constant  belief  that  Paul  was  executed 
in  the  persecution  of  Nero,  and  requires  us  to  suppose 
that  there  was  a  liberation  and  a  subsequent  imprison- 
ment. And  by  the  time  of  Eusebius  this  was  an  accepted 
fact. 

From  the  fragmentary  Acts  of  Paul,  a  book  which 
enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  the  church,  we  learn  that 
Paul,  after  his  first  imprisonment,  was  for  some  time  at 
work  outside  of  Rome,  and  then  preached  again  in  Rome 
itself  before  he  was  brought  before  Nero  and  beheaded. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Apocry- 
phal Acts  of  Paul  and  Peter  assume  Paul's  martyrdom 
on  his  first  trial,  and,  as  Mr.  Bartlet  points  out,  the  patristic 
evidence  for  the  journey  to  Spain  depends  usually  on  Rom. 
XV.  28  only. 

After  reviewing  all  the  evidence  Zahn  {Introd.  ii.  443)  con- 
cludes that '  it  must  stand  as  an  historical  fact,  that  Paul,  as 
he  confidently  expected  when  he  wrote  Philippians,not  long 
after  the  composition  of  that  letter,  was  liberated  by  the  im- 
perial judgement,  and  afterwards  both  visited  the  Eastern 
lands  and  preached  the  gospel  in  Spain  before  he  was  for  the 
second  time  arrested  in  Rome,  and  brought  to  execution.' 

In  accordance  with  this  conclusion  we  may  frame  a 
chronology  into  which  our  three  letters  would  fit  :  — 


INTRODUCTION  31 

First  imprisonment,  61-63  ^-D. 

In  the  autumn  of  63  came  the  journey  to  Spain. 

The  winter  65-66,  the  one  spent  in  Nicopolis. 

The  winter  66-67,  the  one  in  which  Paul  expected 
Timothy  in  Rome  (2  Tim.  iv.  21). 

The  tradition  of  the  Acts  of  Peter,  that  a  year  was  spent 
in  Spain,  cannot  be  trusted.  But  probably  on  leaving 
Spain,  say  in  64,  Paul  avoided  Rome,  where  the  Neronic 
persecution  had  broken  out,  and  made  for  Apollonia  direct, 
and  thence  for  Philippi. 

The  summer  of  65  might  be  the  time  that  Timothy  was 
engaged  in  his  mission  at  Ephesus  ;  and  we  may  suppose 
that  Titus  joined  Paul  at  Nicopolis  for  the  winter.  In 
the  spring  of  66  Titus  would  set  out  for  Dalmatia,  and 
Paul  for  Rome.  During  the  summer  Paul  would  be 
arrested  ;  and  then  would  come  the  visit  of  Onesiphorus 
and  the  writing  of  2  Timothy.  Then  some  time  between 
the  end  of  66  and  the  death  of  Nero,  June  9,  68,  Paul 
suffered  martyrdom  on  the  Ostian  Way.  According  to 
one  tradition  Peter  had  suffered  death  on  the  Vatican 
Hill,  in  the  year  65. 

We  must  now  attempt  to  present  the  positive  arguments 
for  the  genuineness  of  our  Epistles.  The  external  authority, 
as  we  saw  in  the  last  chapter,  is  sufficiently  clear,  clearer, 
for  instance,  than  it  is  for  the  two  unquestioned  Epistles, 
Romans  and  2  Corinthians. 

Looking  at  the  internal  evidence,  the  most  decisive 
argument  for  genuineness  is  in  the  number  of  proper 
names  occurring  in  the  letters,  not  merely  as  names,  but 
as  living  persons  in  definite  positions.  A  writer  attempt- 
ing in  later  years  to  compose  a  spurious  letter  of  Paul 
would  either  avoid  proper  names,  or  simply  borrow  them 
from  the  older  Epistles  and  Acts.  The  facts  in  these 
letters  are  significant. 

Look  at  the  persons  introduced  :  Hymemeus  (i  Tim.  i. 
20;  2  Tim.  ii.  17),  Philetus  (2  Tim.  ii.  17),  Phygelus  and 


32  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

Hermogenes  (2  Tim.  i.  15),  Lois  and  Eunice  (2  Tim.  i.  5), 
Onesipliorus  and  his  house  (2  Tim.  i.  16,  iv.  19),  Crescens, 
Carpus,  Eubulus,  Pudens,  Linus,  Claudia  (2  Tim.  iv.  10, 
13,  21),  Artemas  and  Zenas  (Titus  iii.  12),  Alexander 
(1  Tim.  i.  20;  2  Tim.  iv.  14).  It  is  quite  likely  that  this 
Alexander  is  not  identical  with  the  Alexander  of  Acts  xix. 

33  ;  the  latter  was  a  silversmith,  the  former  a  copper- 
smith ;  and  the  whole  situation  forbids  the  idea  that  a 
writer  impersonating  Paul  should  have  conceived  the 
name  and  character  of  this  coppersmith,  with  his  definite 
antagonism  to  the  Apostle,  from  the  ambiguous  notice 
of  the  silversmith  in  Acts.  These  sixteen  persons 
are  so  referred  to  in  these  letters,  and  so  unknown 
from  the  other  sources,  that  they  would  be  th?.  most 
glaring  instances  of  deliberate  creation,  a  dangerous 
and  hopeless  expedient  for  the  composer  of  a  spurious 
letter. 

Other  names  mentioned  here  occur  also  in  the  other 
sources,  but,  strange  to  say,  the  facts  point  not  to  fiction,  but 
to  a  genuine  situation.  An  imitator  would  not  present 
Demas,  the  honoured  co-worker  with  Luke  (Col.  iv.  14  ; 
Phil.  24),  as  a  deserter  (2  Tim.  iv  .10).  The  reference  to 
Tychicus  (2  Tim.  iv.  12),  while  quite  consistent  with  Eph. 
vi.  21,  could  not  have  been  derived  from  that  source  ;  if 
the  writer  had  depended  on  the  older  letters,  Tychicus 
would  rather  have  been  sent  to  Colosse  (Col.  iv.  7).  In 
Titus  iii.  12  Tychicus  is  travelling  with  Artemas,  who  is 
unknown  in  the  older  sources,  to  Crete.  The  brief  notice 
of  Apollos  (Titus  iii.  13)  is  too  businesslike  to  be  an 
imitatoi^'s  reference  to  that  famous  name.  Trophimus,  in 
Acts  XX.  4,  15,  xxi.  29,  was  with  Paul  at  Miletus  ;  but  there 
was  no  suggestion  in  those  notices  for  leaving  him  at 
Miletus  sick  (2  Tim.  iv.  20).  In  Romans  Erastus  was  at 
home  at  Corinth  (Rom.  xvi.  i,  23) ;  in  this  later  cycle  of 
events  he  had  left  Corinth,  and  his  remaining  there  for  a 
time  was  a  matter  of  comment  (2  Tim.  iv.  20).  These 
are  minute  touches  of  truth  by  which  a  spurious  writer 


INTRODUCTION  33 

might  easily  be  caught  tripping,  and  must  be  regarded  as 
strong  arguments  for  authenticity. 

And  looking  at  Timothy  and  Titus  themselves,  we  can 
easily  imagine  the  pseudo-Paul  giving  them  commissions 
in  the  founding  and  ordering  of  churches  (cf.  i.  Thess. 
iv.  2  ;  I  Cor.  iv.  17,  xvi.  10;  Phil.  ii.  19-23;  and  2  Cor.  vii. 
6-15,  viii.  6,  xii.  iS),  but  we  cannot  imagine  him  represent- 
ing the  two  first  lieutenants  of  Paul  in  so  matter-of-fact  a 
light.  Legendary  fiction  always  glorifies  its  subjects;  but 
here  both  Timothy  and  Titus  appear  as  young  men,  un- 
certain of  their  position,  despised  for  their  youth,  inclined 
to  desert  their  posts,  and  needing  the  earnest  exhortation 
of  their  superior  to  make  them  in  any  sense  worthy  of 
their  trust. 

It  must  be  owned  that  these  unconscious  strokes  of 
reality  greatly  bias  a  candid  reader  in  favour  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  letters. 

The  assailants  of  the  authenticity  argue,  as  we  saw  in 
the  last  chapter,  that  the  writer  had  two  objects  in  view : 
(i)  To  carry  forward  the  organization  of  the  church  be- 
yond the  point  where  Paul  had  left  it,  (2)  to  refute  certain 
errors  of  his  time  by  putting  the  correction  of  them  in  the 
mouth  of  the  great  Apostle. 

But  against  (i)  an  unbiassed  examination  of  the  facts 
rather  tends  to  shew  that  the  organization  of  the  church, 
with  elders,  deacons,  deaconesses,  and  widows,  is  hardly 
in  any  respect  different  from  that  implied  in  Acts  and  the 
admitted  Pauhne  letters. 

When  an  attempt  is  made  to  prop  the  diocesan 
episcopate,  or  even  the  monarchic  episcopate  (i.  e.  the 
supremacy  of  one  minister  over  the  elders  of  the  in- 
dividual community)  by  the  authority  of  the  Pastoral 
Epistles,  then  indeed  suspicion  is  thrown  upon  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Epistles.  All  through  the  second  century 
there  is  no  trace  of  a  diocesan  episcopate ;  and  no  writer 
between  70  and  170  A.  D.  could  refer  to  it  without  an 
anachronism.    But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  office  of  Timothy 


34  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

in  Ephesus  and  of  Titus  in  Crete  has  nothing  in  common 
with  an  episcopate  at  all.  It  was  the  exceptional  and 
temporary  commission  to  found  and  organize  churches — 
a  work  entrusted  to  them  as  the  deputies  of  the  Apostle. 
The  indications  shew  that  there  was  no  intention  of 
establishing  either  of  them  as  the  ruler  of  a  diocese  :  on 
the  contrary,  in  each  case  the  term  of  their  task  is  from 
the  first  contemplated.  If,  therefore,  we  cease,  in  the 
interests  of  the  episcopal  order,  to  press  these  Epistles  into 
the  service  of  a  foregone  conclusion,  this  argument  against 
their  genuineness  falls  to  the  ground. 

The  attempt  to  find  the  monarchical  episcopate  in  the 
letters  would,  if  successful,  certainly  shew  that  Paul  had 
advanced  considerably  beyond  his  position  in  the  other 
Epistles.  But  this  attempt  is  as  futile  as  the  others.  By 
the  end  of  the  first  century,  as  is  suggested  by  the  *  angel ' 
of  the  church  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  as  is  proved  by  the 
strong  language  of  Ignatius  about  the  bishop,  the  mon- 
archical bishop  was  ?^  fait  accompli  \  that  is  to  say,  the 
unity  and  orthodoxy  of  each  individual  church  were 
secured  by  the  position  of  a  minister,  called  a  bishop, 
who  was  regarded  as  standing  to  the  individual  com- 
munity in  the  relation  that  Christ  himself  stands  to  the 
whole  church. 

But  of  this  monarchical  episcopate  there  is  no  trace  in  our 
Epistles,  and  the  absence  of  it  pushes  the  date  back  to  the 
earlier  rather  than  the  later  stratum  of  New  Testament 
literature.  In  these  letters,  as  a  careful  examination 
shews,  *  bishop '  is  only  another  name  for  '  elder.'  Called 
elders  in  reference  to  the  familiar  organization  of  the 
Jewish  synagogue,  they  are  also  described  as  'over- 
seers =  bishops  '  in  reference  to  the  organization  of  Greek 
communities,  a  term  which  would  be  more  intelligible  to 
Gentiles.  If  i  Tim.  iii.  1-7  is  compared  with  Titus  i.  5-9, 
it  becomes  apparent  that  the  writer  is  speaking  of  the 
same  officers,  though  in  the  one  case  he  does  not  use  the 
word  '  elders.'    The  second  passage  proves  that  the  terms 


INTRODUCTION  35 

are  interchangeable.  From  the  way  in  which  the  word 
'  bishop '  is  introduced  in  i  Tim.  iii.  i  it  is  evident  that  it 
is  not  used  as  yet  in  any  technical  sense,  but  simply  as 
a  well-known  Greek  term  for  the  manager  or  governor  of 
a  society.  Thus  the  description  of  character  is  intro- 
duced by  a  general  proverbial  saying^  to  the  effect  that 
to  seek  the  office  of  oversight  over  others  was  to  desire 
a  good  work.  That  the  *  bishop  *  is  the  same  as  the 
'elder'  in  this  first  Epistle  is  made  clear  by  a  comparison 
of  iii.  1-7  with  v.  17-22.  In  the  first  passage  the 
personal  life  of  the  officer  is  described  ;  in  the  second, 
the  method  of  treating,  supporting,  ordaining  him  is 
suggested. 

But  this  use  of  the  two  terms  to  describe  the  one  office, 
and  the  appointment  of  several  '  bishops '  or  '  elders  '  over 
each  community,  are  precisely  what  we  find  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  (cf.  xx.  28  with  verse  17).  And  thus 
the  '  elders  and  deacons '  of  these  Pastoral  Epistles  are 
identical  with  'the  bishops  and  deacons'  of  Phil.  i.  i. 

If  in  I  Tim.  iii.  11  we  are  to  infer  that  the  woman  is 
a  deaconess,  that  is  no  further  step  in  organization  than 
is  already  implied  by  the  mention  of  the  deaconess 
Phoebe  in  Rom.  xvi.  i.  And  though  the  regulations 
for  church  widows  in  i  Tim.  v.  3-16  imply  a  new  status 
for  women  of  this  sort,  these  regulations  do  not  carry 
us  down  to  a  later  date  than  the  life  of  Paul ;  so  far 
as  it  can  be  traced  in  the  organization  of  the  early  church, 
we  may  ascribe  the  institution  to  the  author  of  i  Cor.  vii. 
25-40  and  xi.  1-16  with  as  much  probability  as  to  any 
one  else. 

It  should  be  added  that  of  our  three  Epistles,  one, 
2  Timothy,  takes  no  notice  of  church  organization  at  all. 
If,  therefore,  we  are  entitled  to  refer  the  three  to  one 
period,  one  motive,  and  one  writer,  it  is  scarcely  correct 

^  The  Western  reading"  up  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
was  not  a  *  faithful '  but  a  ' human '  saying- ;  i.e.  a  proverb  on  the 
lips  of  men. 

D  2 


36  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

to  say  that  the  few  passages  in  i  Timothy  and  Titus, 
relating  not  so  much  to  the  institution  of  elders  and 
deacons  as  to  the  character  which  such  officers  should 
bear,  justify  the  view  that  a  desire  to  defend  a  certain 
mode  of  church  organization  was  the  predominant  motive 
in  writing  the  Pastoral  Epistles  and  attributing  them 
to  the  pen  of  Paul. 

It  might  raise  our  suspicions  and  suggest  a  later  date 
if  we  were  to  suppose  that  the  requirement  for  a  bishop 
to  be  *  the  husband  of  one  wife '  (i  Tim.  iii.  2  and  Titus  i.  6) 
must  be  interpreted  as  forbidding  a  second  marriage  to 
the  clergy.  By  the  time  of  Tertullian  this  reference  was 
generally  allowed.  And  a  mere  hint  at  a  higher  morality 
for  '  clergy '  than  for  '  laity '  would  carry  us  far  away  from 
apostolic  notions  and  times.  To  Paul,  at  any  rate,  this 
division  would  be  inconceivable,  as  the  idea  of  a  double 
moral  standard  would  be  intolerable.  But  in  view  of  the 
command  that  younger  widows  should  marry  again  (i  Tim. 
V.  14),  it  is  highly  improbable  that  the  phrase  'husband 
of  one  wife '  is  intended  as  a  stigma  on  second  marriages. 
It  is  well  to  remember  that  the  Greek  words  are  '  a  man 
of  one  woman ' ;  and  remembering,  along  with  this,  the 
universal  moral  corruption  in  such  Greek  cities  as  those 
of  Crete  or  Asia  Minor,  and  the  unquestioning  approval 
of  concubinage  and  other  sexual  liaisons  which  prevailed 
in  antiquity,  the  natural  and  historical  interpretation  of 
the  words  would  treat  them  as  a  prohibition  against  any 
relations  with  women  outside  of  a  monogamistic  fidelity ; 
a  prohibition  which  applied  to  all  Christians,  just  as  the 
other  definitions  of  i  Tim.  iii.  1-7  did  and  do,  but  was 
mentioned,  like  the  rest,  in  this  connexion  doubtless 
because  there  was  a  temptation  to  relax  these  moral 
requirements  in  the  appointment  of  church  officers  in 
cases  where  wealth,  influence,  or  personal  authority 
seemed  to  outbalance  some  venial  lapses  in  private  life. 

We  may  mention  two  other  points  in  the  picture  of 
church  organization  presented  in  our  Epistles  that  speak 


INTRODUCTION  37 

strongly  for  the  early  and  apostolic  date.  It  is  evident, 
from  I  Tim.  ii.  8,  that  there  was  still  perfect  freedom 
of  utterance  in  the  Christian  congregations,  just  as  we  find 
it  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians.  The  official  minister 
had  not  usurped  the  office  of  prayer  or  teaching.  All  men 
might  pray  in  the  assemblies  ;  and  the  very  vagaries  of 
teaching  which  Timothy  and  Titus  were  to  oppose  are 
evidence  that  all  men  were  at  liberty  to  speak.  The  other 
point  is  equally  important :  several  times  there  is  mention 
of  laying  on  of  hands  in  the  ordination  of  ministers.  But 
we  are  still  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  not  in  that  of  later  times,  when  the  laying  on  of 
hands  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  magical  transmission  of 
authority  and  power.  The  hand-laying  on  Timothy  and 
Titus  was  accompanied  and  made  significant  by  prophecy 
and  prayer.  It  was  still  the  time  when  the  Spirit  working 
constituted  the  power  and  authority  of  office ;  it  was  not 
yet  the  time  when  office,  mechanically  transmitted,  deter- 
mined and  constituted  the  work  of  the  Spirit. 

The  arguments  therefore  against  the  genuineness,  based 
on  the  church  organization  in  these  Epistles,  however 
ably  they  may  have  been  maintained,  do  not  in  themselves, 
when  fairly  examined,  subvert  the  ancient  conviction  that 
these  letters  were  written  by  Paul. 

(2)  The  second  motive  for  composing  these  letters  on  the 
part  of  a  pseudo-Paul  has  been  found  in  the  refutation  of 
certain  false  doctrines.  '  We  have  before  us  in  one  word/ 
said  Baur  in  his  Co7njnenfary,  *  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century,  especially  the 
Marcionites.' 

It  is  necessary  to  examine  the  false  doctrines  which  are 
either  rebuked  or  foretold  by  the  writer,  in  order  to  see  if 
they  can  be  reasonably  explained  without  travelling  down 
into  the  second  century. 

The  references  should  be  brought  together :  i  Tim.  i. 
3,  4,  6-1 1,  iv.  7,  vi.  ^-5,  20;  2  Tim.  ii.  14,  16,  23  ;  Titus 
i.  10-16,  iii.  9-n. 


38  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

First  of  all,  *  the  certain  men '  of  i  Tim.  i.  3,  who  are 
'  not  to  teach  a  different  doctrine  ','  obviously  are  members 
of  the  Christian  community,  and  (cf.  Titus  i.  9)  having  the 
right  to  speak  in  the  assembly,  must  be  opposed  by  the 
teacher  of  the  truth  (cf.  Titus  i.  11,  13).  They  professed 
(or  rather  'admitted')  that  they  knew  God  (Titus  i.  16),  and 
might  by  sharp  rebuke  be  restored ;  their  mouths  could 
be  stopped.  They  were  not  elders  or  appointed  teachers. 
At  the  same  time  it  seems,  from  i  Tim.  vi.  3-10,  that  they 
sought  to  make  money  by  teaching  their  variations  from 
the  Apostolic  doctrine  (probably  the  word  '  professing ' 
in  vi.  21,  as  well  as  'for  filthy  lucre's  sake'  in  Titus 
i.  II,  points  to  a  professional  teaching  and  the  attempt, 
by  ingenious  speculations,  to  stir  the  curiosity  and  win 
the  support  of  the  members  of  the  church).  Their  error 
was  not  in  the  substance  of  their  teaching  (i  Tim.  vi.  4), 
but  in  their  setting  themselves  up  to  be  teachers  at  all,  with 
insufficient  qualifications,  and  from  a  mercenary  motive. 
It  is  evident  that  they  did  not  assail  the  Christian 
verities  ;  but  slipping  away  from  the  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  ethical  claims  which  he  makes 
upon  the  conscience,  they  drew  their  hearers  into  barren 
speculations,  which  led  only  to  strife  (i  Tim.  vi.  3,  4). 
They  had  a  propensity  to  disputation,  profitless  dis- 
putation (Titus  iii.  9).  They  turned  to  the  Mosaic  law, 
and  managed  to  elicit  from  it  those  endless  and  useless 
questions  which  have  occupied  the  Rabbinical  schools. 
The  right  uses  of  the  law,  love  and  sound  morality  (cf. 
I  Tim.  i.  5-8 ;  2  Tim.  iii.  15),  did  not  interest  them.  But 
their  delight  was  in  the  inscrutable,  in  genealogies,  in 
Jewish  fables,  which  are  described  as  '  profane  and  fit  for 
old  wives'  (i  Tim.  iv.  7). 

Secondly,  are  we  bound  to  identify  these  genealogies 


*  This  is  one  Greek  word  kTepoSidaaKaXeiu,  which  may  be 
illustrated  by  our  word,  from  the  Greek,  heterodox.  'To  give 
heterodox  teaching '  is  almost  an  equivalent  for  the  phrase. 


INTRODUCTION  39 

with  the  Gnostic  teaching  of  the  aeons  i  Is  it  not  more 
probable  that  the  second-century  writ'.TS,  Irenasus  and 
TertulHan,  in  their  resistance  to  the  Valentinians,  with 
the  Pastoral  letters  before  them,  used  the  expressions  of 
Paul  in  speaking  of  their  opponents  very  much  as  we  do 
now,  fitting  all  heresies  and  false  doctrines  into  the 
phrases  which  are  before  us  in  Scripture  ? 

Now  it  may  be  observed  that  Ignatius  {Afagn.  8^)  directly 
quotes  I  Tim.  i.  4,  iv.  7,  and  Titus  i.  14,  iii.  9,  against 
the  Judaistic  teachers  of  his  own  time,  without  mention- 
ing the  genealogies.  And  all  the  old  commentators, 
Ambrosiaster,  Jerome,  Pelagius,  Ephraim,  Theodorus, 
identify  the  heretical  teachers  of  our  Epistles  with  the 
Judaizers  who  are  refuted  in  Galatians  '^,  though  Chrysos- 
tom  not  unnaturally  sees  a  reference  to  certain  Greek 
myths  as  well,  and  Theodoret  fancies  that  i  Tim.  vi.  20 
may  refer  to  Gnostic  notions  derived  from  Simon  Magus. 

The  stress  laid  on  the  fables  being  Jewish  (Titus  i.  14), 
and  on  the  contests  being  about  the  law  (Titus  iii.  9),  and 
on  the  teachers  being  teachers  of  the  law^  (i  Tim.  i.  7), 
would  seem  to  be  decisive  for  seeking  the  errors  in  certain 
Judaizing  tendencies.  Nor  are  we  left  without  examples 
of  the  barren  way  in  which  the  Jewish  Haggddoth  (exactly 
rendered  by  the  word  '  fables ')  could  be  treated  for 
didactic  purposes.  The  Book  of  Jubilees  shews  us  to 
what  use  the  genealogies  of  the  Old  Testament  were  put. 
Philo  calls  the  part  of  the  Pentateuch  between  the 
Creation  and  the  giving  of  the  law  the  Genealogicum, 
The  handling  of  these  endless  genealogies  afforded 
boundless  scope  for  fanciful  and  arbitrary  spiritual  appli- 
cations.     And  Jerome,  to  cite  one  example,  tells  us  of 


^  '  Do  not  be  seduced  by  heterodoxies  nor  by  fables  (mythic 
teachings)  ancient  and  useless.  For  if  we  still  live  according  to 
Jewish  law,  we  confess  that  we  have  not  received  grace.' 

^  The  reference  in  Ignatius  is  equally  distinct  to  Gal.  ii.  14. 

^  The  word  i/o/ioStSdtr/faAos  is  the  regular  word  for  a  Rabbinical 
teacher  (Luke  v.  17  j  Acts  v.  34). 


4o  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

a  Jewish  Christian  in  Rome  who  misled  the  simple  by 
exercising  his  ingenuity  on  the  difference  between  the  two 
genealogies  in  Matt.  i.  and  Luke  iii. 

Further,  it  should  be  noticed  that  the  condemnation 
passed  upon  these  errors  is  not  so  trenchant  as  the  Gnostic 
heresies  evoked.  Irenaeus  (i.  15,  16)  treats  the  Gnostic 
teaching  as  the  obscuring  of  the  one  true  God,  and  the 
teachers  as  makers  of  idols.  The  tone  adopted  towards 
these  Jewish  doctrines  is  that  rather  of  contempt  than 
of  strong  condemnation.  The  opposition  is  not  one 
between  faith  and  infidelity  (cf.  I  Tim.  v.  8),  but  rather 
one  between  holy  and  edifying  truth  (i  Tim.  i.  5),  and 
trivialities  fit  only  for  old  women  (i  Tim.  iv.  7).  The 
discussions  are  not  knowledge  (i  Tim.  vi.  20) ;  they  are 
foolish  and  ignorant  (2  Tim.  ii.  3).  They  are  '  profane,' 
not  in  the  sense  of  being  blasphemous,  but  only  in  the 
sense  of  being  not  sacred  (i  Tim.  iv.  7).  They  are  vanity 
(i  Tim.  i.  6;  Titus  i.  10,  iii.  9),  emptiness  (i  Tim.  vi.  20; 
2  Tim.  ii.  16),  and  vexation  of  spirit  (2  Tim.  ii.  23),  useless 
rather  than  positively  pernicious  (Titus  iii.  9  ;  i  Tim.  iv.  8  ; 
2  Tim.  iii.  16).  They  kept  the  hearers  occupied  with 
words,  and  prevented  them  from  seeking  solid  godliness. 
The  objection  to  them  was,  that  they  formed  a  kind  of 
entanglement  which  reduced  the  efficiency  of  the  Christian 
soldier  (2  Tim.  ii.  4:  cf.  i  Tim.  vi.  5-1 1).  The  good 
warfare  had  respect  to  conduct  and  life ;  these  empty 
dissertations  produced  only  an  idle  spirit  of  contention. 

This  tone  would  not  be  adopted  towards  the  serious 
heresies  of  Valentinus ;  a  pseudo-Paul  in  the  second 
century,  assailing  the  errors  of  his  time,  would  not  adopt 
these  almost  contemptuous  weapons  of  depreciation. 

It  does  not  seem  that  these  teachers  are  even  as 
dangerous  as  those  rebuked  in  Galatians.  Nothing  is 
said  about  their  demanding  circumcision  as  a  Christian 
rite.  But  from  Titus  i.  14-16  we  conclude  that  they  had 
much  to  say  about  things  being  clean  or  unclean.  And 
perhaps  from  i  Tim.  v.  23  we  may  guess  that  they  made 


INTRODUCTION  41 

abstinence  from  wine  a  condition  of  church  membership  ; 
so  that  while  Paul  would  go  without  wine  to  help  others 
(Rom.  xiv.  21),  it  might  be  necessary  to  vindicate  Christian 
liberty  against  a  dogmatic  asceticism.  The  false  teachers 
are  not  so  much  feared  as  warned.  They  are  more 
a  danger  to  themselves  than  to  the  community.  Those 
whom  Timothy  had  to  oppose  might  be  won  and  restored 
(2  Tim.  ii.  25).  The  similar  people  in  Crete  were  more 
incorrigible  (Titus  i.  10,  16).  If  they  would  not  listen  after 
a  second  or  third  admonition  they  must  be  ejected  from 
the  community.  But  evidently  the  call  is  not  so  much  to 
fear  them  as  to  fear  for  them.  They  are  people  who 
spiritually  are  out  of  health  ;  what  they  need  is  wholesome 
teaching  (i  Tim.  i.  10,  vi.  3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  13,  iv.  3;  Titus 
i.  9,  13,  ii.  I,  2,  8).  They  are  not,  like  Gnostics,  the 
inventors  of  a  new  God,  but,  like  ordinary  vain  and 
conceited  persons  in  the  church  to-day,  '  professing  to 
know  Him  ;  by  their  works  they  deny  Him'  (Titus  i.  16). 
In  these  Epistles  there  seem  to  be  some  whose  breach 
with  the  church  and  the  faith  is  more  serious  (i  Tim.  vi. 
21).  Some,  among  them  Hymeneeus  and  Alexander 
(i.  19),  having  thrust  aside  faith  and  conscience  had  made 
shipwreck.  Alexander,  perhaps  the  same  Alexander  in 
2  Tim.  iv.  14,  had  resisted  the  Apostolic  teaching  and 
incurred  the  Divine  judgement.  Hymena^us  is  also 
coupled  with  Philetus  as  teaching  that  the  resurrection 
was  past  (2  Tim.  ii.  18).  With  reference  to  this  last 
heresy,  there  were  two  doctrines  of  which  we  hear  in 
extra-biblical  sources :  one,  that  a  man  rises  again  in  his 
children  ;  the  other,  that  the  resurrection  is  the  new  life 
after  conversion  and  baptism.  In  the  Ac/s  of  Thecla 
Demas  and  Hermogenes  say  of  Paul  :  'And  we  will  teach 
thee  that  the  resurrection  of  which  he  speaks  has  already 
taken  place  in  the  children  we  have.'  And  Hippolytus 
refers  to  Nicolaus  the  idea  that  the  resurrection  is 
a  spiritual  birth  in  baptism.  Nicolaus  (Acts  vi.  5  ;  Rev. 
ii.  6,   15)    obtained   a  certain  following  in  Asia  Minor. 


42  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

From  these  errors  the  writer  anticipates  sad  results 
(2  Tim.  ii.  16-18).  By  a  spirit  of  prophecy  he  foretells 
still  further  declensions  (i  Tim.  iv.  i).  Fresh  heretics  will 
arise,  'giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits  and  doctrines  of 
devils.'  They  will  demand  a  spirituality  beyond  the 
reach  of  earthly  life  in  abstinence  from  marriage  and 
from  certain  foods. 

A  similar  forecast  is  given  in  2  Tim.  iv.  3.  And  while 
these  prophecies  are  not  directly  connected  with  the 
Jewish  doctrines  above  referred  to,  there  is  an  implied 
connexion  ;  for  Timothy  is  urged  to  bring  all  the  powers 
of  the  wholesome  doctrine  to  resist  the  tendencies  which 
are  evidently  already  present. 

Another  forecast  of  the  future  is  found  in  2  Tim.  iii. 
l-io.  But  this  passage  refers  to  people  generally,  and 
not  specially  to  teachers.  And  while  these  seeming 
Christians  are  foretold  in  the  last  times,  it  is  evident  that 
they  are  already  in  the  church ;  for  Timothy  is  warned 
to  turn  away  from  them.  It  is  strange  that  Paul,  in  re- 
probating the  Jewish  fables,  should  borrow  his  illustration 
from  the  Jewish  fable  of  Jannes  and  Jambres  ;  but  perhaps 
this  emphasizes  the  fact  that  it  is  of  Jewish  tendencies 
that  he  is  speaking.  Observe  that  while  for  the  heresy 
of  Hymenaeus  and  Philetus  he  prophesies  a  continuance, 
for  these  seeming  Christians  he  anticipates  a  speedy  arrest 
and  discovery.  'To  this,'  says  Zahn,  'history  corre- 
sponds, but  only  on  the  supposition  that  these  letters  were 
written  in  apostolic  times.*  The  errors  of  the  heterodox 
in  I  Tim.  i.  4-10,  and  the  abominations  referred  to  in 
2  Tim.  iii.  6-9,  will  be  checked ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
evils  described  in  the  prophecy  of  i  Tim.  iv.  1-3,  and  the 
heresy  of  Hymenasus  and  Philetus  (2  Tim.  ii.  17),  are  to 
be  expected  in  the  future.  Now  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  evils  in  the  first  two  passages  are  not  to  be  traced  in 
post-apostolic  times  *,  and  a  forger  in  the  next  century 

'  The  Cerinthians  and  Naassenes,  and  the  Judaizers  opposed 
by  Ignatius,  are  quite  different  in  their  general  doctrinal  position. 


INTRODUCTION  43 

would  not  have  seen  any  point  in  refuting  them ;  so  far 
as  they  are  specific  at  all,  they  refer  to  the  early  struggles 
of  the  Judaizing  party  in  the  church,  which  quickly  dis- 
appeared. On  the  other  hand,  the  evils  in  the  second 
pair  of  passages  had  a  future,  but  only  in  the  first  century. 
The  twofold  form  which  the  resurrection  doctrine  took,  viz. 
resurrection  in  one's  children  and  spiritual  resurrection 
in  baptism,  is  to  be  traced  in  the  Jewish  or  half-Jewish 
Christianity  of  Palestine,  and  not  in  the  heathen-Christian 
Gnosticism  of  the  next  age.  And  so  with  the  prophecy 
in  I  Tim.  iv.  1-3  (and  the  parallels,  2  Tim.  iii.  1-5,  iv.  3). 
It  is  true  that  the  Marcionites  forbade  marriage  and  de- 
graded the  Creator ;  and  Encratism  and  Manichceism 
betray  similar  ideas ;  it  is  true  that  in  '  the  Antitheses  of 
the  falsely  called  Gnosis '  of  i  Tim.  vi.  20  it  is  tempting 
to  find,  as  Baur  did,  a  direct  reference  to  Marcion's 
famous  Antitheses.  But  a  pseudo-Paulus,  with  Marcion's 
work  before  him,  would  neither  have  been  content  to 
refute  it  with  so  slight  a  reference  as  i  Tim.  iv.  1-3,  nor 
have  wished  to  betray  himself  by  distinctly  naming  Mar- 
cion's Antitheses.  Everything  therefore  points  to  these 
passages  dating  from  before  the  time  of  Marcion. 

After  examining,  then,  the  marks  of  church  organization, 
and  the  allusions  to  heretical  teaching,  which  are  supposed 
to  bring  our  three  letters  down  beyond  the  Apostolic  Age, 
we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  all  these  indications 
drive  us  back  to  the  first  century.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  personal  allusions,  and  the  difficulty  of  finding  a 
motive  for  the  forgery,  forbid  the  idea  that  the  letters 
could  have  been  fabricated  soon  after  the  Apostle's  death. 

Other  disproofs  of  the  genuineness  are  almost  too  slight 
to  mention;  e.g.  it  is  argued  that  i  Tim.  v.  18,  *  the 
labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,*  is  a  quotation  from  Luke 

The  heterodox  teachers  of  the  Pastorals  are  like  the  followers  of 
Peter  at  Corinth  or  the  Jewish-Christian  teachers  at  Colosse,  only 
they  have  added  to  their  arbitrary  dogmas  further  myths  and 
genealogical  speculations  from  Rabbinism. 


44  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

X.  7  (Matt.  X.  lo),  and  shews  that  the  gospel  was  already 
committed  to  writing.  But  the  proverb  could  be  easily 
quoted  by  both  our  Lord  and  Paul ;  and  the  reference  to 
the  law  rather  than  to  the  words  of  Jesus  in  this  connexion 
proves  that  Paul  had  not  the  written  gospel  before  him  as 
Holy  Scripture. 

It  has  been  maintained  that  in  I  Tim.  vi.  12-16; 
2  Tim.  ii.  2-8,  iv.  i,  we  have  signs  of  a  creed  recited  at 
baptism  ;  and  such  a  creed  could  not  have  arisen  in  the 
time  of  Paul.  It  is  true  that  the  object  of  the  letters  is 
to  cast  into  form  the  wholesome  doctrine  which  should 
counteract  the  poisonous  heresies ;  but  it  is  not  possible 
to  shew  that  these  pronouncements  are  more  formal  or 
credal  than  similar  passages  in  other  epistles  (Rom.  vi.  17, 
xvi.  17;  I  Cor.  iv.  17,  xv.  1-3;  Col.  ii.  6,  Sec;  Eph.  iv.  20, 
&c.).  It  was  natural  enough  that  a  dying  apostle  should 
try  to  give  definiteness  to  the  great  articles  of  faith,  and 
so  to  make  the  Christiiin  community  a  pillar  of  the  truth 
(i  Tim.  iii.  15  ;  2  Tim,  ii.  19).  It  is  in  protest  against  an 
unethical  teaching  that  he  seeks  to  crystallize  the  sound 
doctrine  as  the  commandment  (i  Tim.  vi.  14)  and  the 
charge  (i.  Tim.  1.  5,  18;  cf.  iv.  il).  Paul  had  always 
thought  of  the  gospel  as  a  new  law  (Rom.  iii.  27,  31),  just 
as  James  did,  but  a  law  of  liberty,  a  spiritual  law;  and 
he  had  regarded  the  Christian  life  as  obedience  to  that 
law  (Rom.  i.  5,  vi.  17,  xvi.  26).  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Pauline  doctrines  of  justification  and  grace  are  recognizable 
here  (Titus  ii.  11-14,111.4-7;  i  Tim.  i.  12-16,  ii.  4-7;  2  Tim. 
ii.  1-9). 

When  Baur  argued  that  the  reference  to  kings  in  i  Tim. 
ii.  2  shewed  that  the  date  must  be  brought  to  the  time 
of  the  Antonines,  because  then  two  colleagues  wore  the 
purple,  we  feel  that  we  are  dealing  merely  with  trifles 
which  suffice  to  support  a  foregone  conclusion. 

The  argument  against  genuineness  based  on  the  ter- 
minology must  be  considered  weighty  but  not  decisive. 
It  is  true  that  there  are  a  large  number  of  arrn^  Xtyo'/xewi, 


INTRODUCTION  45 

1*.  e.  words  that  occur  only  in  these  Epistles.  But  in 
all  Paul's  Epistles  the  ana^  Xeyofieva  are  very  numerous  ; 
every  active  and  original  mind  passes  from  one  cycle  of 
words  to  another  with  change  of  study  or  circumstance 
(see  p.  9).  And  the  argument  is  capable  of  being  turned  ; 
for  one  trying  to  write  letters  in  Paul's  name  would  be 
careful  to  use  the  words  of  the  other  Pauline  Epistles.  The 
originality  of  the  greetings  in  the  letters  is  better  ex- 
plained by  Paul's  freedom  and  naturalness  of  expression 
than  by  supposing  the  work  of  an  imitator,  who  would 
follow  more  closely  his  examples. 

If,  therefore,  in  face  of  the  high  authority  of  modern 
critics,  we  assume  the  genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles, 
we  cannot  be  charged  with  standing  in  an  obstinate 
orthodoxy  which  refuses  to  face  the  facts ;  but  rather, 
with  the  facts  on  both  sides  before  us,  we  may  feel  that 
the  balance  inclines  to  the  traditional  view.  Beyschlag, 
speaking  of  i  Timothy,  says  : '  The  man  who  is  now  able  to 
ascribe  it  to  the  author  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and 
Galatians  has  never  comprehended  the  literary  peculiarity 
and  greatness  of  the  Apostle.'  To  this  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  Professor  Sanday  and  the  late  Professor  Hort 
believe  that  the  writer  of  Romans  and  Galatians  was  the 
writer  of  i  Timothy.  It  does  not  follow,  because  a  man  has 
'  literary  peculiarity  and  greatness,'  that  he  will  display 
these  qualities  in  all  his  private  letters.  There  are  letters 
of  Mr.  Ruskin  which  shew  none  of  the  style  which  makes 
Modern  Painters  immortal ;  sometimes  he  puts  off  the 
cothurnus  and  speaks  like  an  ordinary  man.  Tennyson, 
though  he  wrote  a  few  letters  which  might  live  side  by 
side  with  his  poems,  was  on  the  whole  quite  undistin- 
guished in  his  epistolary  style. 

And  if  it  be  said  that  in  this  little  group  of  letters,  at 
the  very  end  of  his  life,  the  Apostle,  if  it  be  he,  has  not 
only  acquired  a  new  vocabulary  of  words,  but  adopted 
a  new  method  of  connecting  his  sentences,  and  lost  the 
older  harmonies  of  his  style,  we  may  reasonably  answer : 


46  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

'  This  may  be  so ;  but  it  is  far  easier  to  admit  it  than  to 
explain  how  or  when  these  letters  could  have  come  from 
any  other  hand.' 

If  the  argument  against  the  genuineness  should  ever  be 
made  more  conclusive,  and  if  we  had  to  surrender  the 
period  of  shadowy  history  into  which  these  letters,  if 
genuine,  give  us  a  glimpse,  we  may  console  ourselves 
with  the  reflection  that  we  have  not  lost  anything  essen- 
tial. The  pseudo-Paul— if  it  was  not  Paul  himself— has 
got  quite  enough  of  the  Apostle's  manner,  presents  us 
with  quite  enough  of  the  Apostle's  truths,  and  brings  us 
sufficiently  into  contact  with  the  Apostle's  God,  through 
the  Apostle's  Christ,  to  make  these  compositions  invalu- 
able to  us  as  theology  and  ecclesiology,  even  if  they 
should  lose  their  validity  as  genuine  letters  of  Paul. 


CHAPTER  in. 

Timothy  and  Titus. 

Having  noted  the  intrinsic  value  of  our  Epistles,  which 
can  be  maintained  whatever  view  we  may  be  forced  to 
take  of  the  authorship,  and  having  faced  as  fully  as 
seemed  necessary  the  objections  which  lie  against  the 
traditional  view,  the  alternatives  which  are  offered  to  that 
view,  and  the  line  of  argument  by  which,  if  at  all,  the 
view  may  be  defended,  we  must,  before  entering  on  the 
study  of  the  letters  themselves,  put  together  what  we 
know  of  the  two  men  to  whom  they  were  written.  There 
is  only  one  other  letter  of  Paul's  addressed  to  an  in- 
dividual, that  model  of  tact  and  courtesy,  the  Epistle  to 
Philemon.  In  that  case  all  we  know  of  the  correspondent 
is  derived  from  the  letter  addressed  to  him :  in  this  case 
Scripture  gives  us,  especially  in  regard  to  Timothy,  a  little 
further  information.     It  cannot  be  said  that  the  value  of 


INTRODUCTION  47 

the  letters  is  in  the  least  degree  affected  by  the  character 
of  Timothy  and  Titus,  for  notwithstanding  a  few  personal 
touches,  the  two  men  remain  curiously  impersonal.  But, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  question  of  Paul's  authorship  is  to 
some  extent  connected  with  this  personal  factor,  and  if 
we  are  to  regard  that  question  as  of  any  importance,  we 
should  conceive,  as  clearly  as  we  can,  the  persons  to  whom 
Paul  is  supposed  to  be  writing.  Timothy — the  name  (in 
Greek,  Timotheus)  means  '  honour  of  God'— was  that 
companion  of  Paul  who  held  the  dearest  place  in  his 
affections.  The  great  Apostle  had  no  one  '  likeminded ' 
with  Timothy  who  would  naturally  care  for  the  state  of 
the  church,  no  one  so  unselfish,  no  one,  as  a  child  to 
a  father,  so  dutiful  to  him  (PhiJ.  ii.  19,  22).  The  con- 
stant companion  of  his  travels  when  he  was  not  engaged 
in  his  commissions,  this  son  of  his  was  never  absent  but 
he  wished  him  present ;  and  when  the  grim  stroke  of 
death  was  impending,  it  was  the  dying  man's  great 
concern  to  have  this  child  of  his  spirit  to  close  his  eyes 
(2  Tim.  iv.  9).  It  is  this  tender  love  of  the  noblest  of 
men  which  illustrates  the  character  of  Timothy ;  to  be  so 
loved  by  Paul  is  a  patent  of  nobility. 

But  apart  from  this  there  is  very  little  that  is  distinct  in 
the  character.  He  was  a  Lycaonian,  of  Derbe  and  Lystra 
(Acts  xvi.  I,  XX.  4),  the  son  of  a  Greek  father  and  a  Jewish 
mother,  Eunice.  He  was  the  child  of  many  prayers, 
brought  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  piety.  His  conversion  to 
Christianity  was  not  exciting,  but  probably  followed  that  of 
his  mother  and  grandmother.  He  was  perfectly  loyal  in  his 
support  of  Paul,  and  even  suffered  imprisonment  for  his 
faith  (Heb.  xiii.  23),  but  he  gives  us  no  impression  of  strength 
or  originality.  He  was  retiring,  perhaps  delicate  in  health 
(i  Tim.  v.  23),  and  certainly  so  youthful  in  appearance 
that  men  were  apt  to  overlook  or  even  to  despise  him 
(i  Cor.  xvi.  10,  11).  In  his  letters  to  him  Paul  felt  bound 
to  admonish  in  order  to  encourage  him,  betraying  his 
weakness  by  the  very  earnestness  with  which  he  sought 


48  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

to  counteract  it  (l  Tim.  iv.  12;  2  Tim.  ii.  i,  15,  16,  22-26, 
iv.  i).  A  true  Christian,  he  was  yet  a  dependent  one. 
Shining  in  the  light  of  his  master,  he  waned  and  dis- 
appeared when  the  great  luminary  was  withdrawn. 
History  tells  us  nothing  further  when  the  Epistles  of  Paul 
cease,  and  we  do  not  even  know  whether  the  Apostle  had  his 
desire  of  seeing  his  beloved  companion  with  him  at  the  end. 
The  frequent  references  to  Timothy  in  the  Acts  and 
Epistles  are  evidences  of  his  constancy  in  work  rather 
than  of  any  striking  achievement.  It  was  in  the  second 
missionary  journey  to  the  churches  of  Southern  Galatia,  in 
52  A.D.,  that  Paul,  accompanied  by  Silas,  first  came  into 
contact  with  Timothy.  He  had,  like  most  boys,  been  more 
influenced  by  his  mother  than  by  his  father,  and  probably 
shared  with  her  the  Jewish  faith  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Christian  missionaries.  His  grandmother,  Lois,  lived 
with  the  family  (Acts  xx.  4 ;  2  Tim.  i.  5).  The  grand- 
mother, mother,  and  son  seem  to  have  '  believed.'  And 
Paul  was  so  pleased  with  the  boy  that  he  took  him  at 
once  as  a  companion.  He  was,  by  Paul's  desire,  circum- 
cised, a  rite  which,  as  the  son  of  a  Greek,  he  had  hitherto 
evaded  (Acts  xvi.  i  ff.) ;  for  the  missionaries  were  to  go 
to  many  places  where  Jewish  prejudices  must  be  soothed^. 
Perhaps  the   conversion    had   taken   place   on   the  first 

^  Mr.  Vernon  Bartlet,  in  The  Apostolic  Age,  thus  explains  this 
circumcision  :  '  He  had  an  excellent  record  among  the  brethren, 
not  only  in  Lystra,  but  also  in  Iconium,  its  nearest  neighbour; 
and  Paul  saw  in  him  the  promise  of  j'et  greater  things.  Accord- 
ingly he  determined  to  add  him  to  his  staff,  possibly  to  replace 
John  Mark  (Acts  xv.  37  foil.).  But  to  take  a  half-Jew,  who  had 
never  been  circumcised  (probably  through  his  father's  opposition 
to  begin  with),  through  the  regions  that  lay  on  his  route  would  be 
to  stir  afresh  the  embers  of  a  conflict  which  had  only  just  subsided. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  get  his  consent  to  conform  to  the 
law  of  his  birth  on  his  mother's  side,  as  could  be  done  without 
surrender  of  essential  principle,  while  the  motive  was  a  high  and 
generous  one'  (pp.  93,  94). 

This  explains  the  contrast  with  the  action  in  the  case  of  Titus, 
Gal.  ii.  3. 


INTRODUCTION  49 

missionary  journey  (Acts  xiv.  6),  and  certainly  the  in- 
struction in  the  Scriptures  had  been  given  by  mother  and 
grandmother  before  they  had  received  the  Christian 
Gospel  (2  Tim.  iii.  15).  But  he  was  designated  for  the 
companionship  of  Paul  by  a  prophetic  utterance  in  the 
church  at  Derbe  or  Lystra  (i  Tim.  iv.  14),  just  as 
Barnabas  and  Saul  were  designated  for  their  missionary 
journey  in  the  church  at  Antioch  (Acts  xiii.  i).  After  the 
circumcision  Timothy  went  with  Paul  to  Troas,  from 
which  point  they  received  the  eventful  call  to  evangelize 
Europe  (Acts  xvi.  11).  It  is  perhaps  evidence  of  his 
modest  and  retiring  disposition  that  his  name  is  not 
mentioned  in  connexion  with  Philippi  and  Thessalonica. 
He  was,  however,  taking  notes  of  Paul's  methods  in  the 
organization  of  churches  which  would  be  wanted  in  later 
life.  At  Bercea,  Timothy  and  Silas,  when  Paul  went  on 
to  Athens,  were  left  behind  for  a  time,  probably  to  make 
a  first  assay  in  the  settlement  of  a  young  church  (Acts 
xvii.  14).  And  it  was  Timothy  who  was  sent, '  our  brother 
and  God's  minister  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ,'  to  establish 
the  Thessalonians  and  to  bring  back  tidings  to  Paul 
(l  Thess.  iii.  i,  6).  On  his  return  he  joined  Paul  at 
Corinth,  where  in  53  A.D.  we  find  him  conjoined  with 
Paul  and  Silvanus  in  the  salutation  of  the  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians.  It  is  beautiful  to  see  how  Paul  honours 
his  young  friend  by  mentioning  him  on  terms  of  absolute 
equality  as  carrying  out  the  memorable  work  at  Corinth 
(2  Cor.  i.  19).  If  he  bade  others  not  to  despise  his  youth, 
he  himself  set  a  notable  example.  Then  Timothy  falls 
into  the  background,  and  we  only  conjecture  that  he  was 
in  the  journey  described  in  Acts  xviii.  because  we  find 
that  in  the  work  at  Ephesus  he  was  still  with  Paul  as 
minister  and  emissary  (Acts  xix.  22).  From  there  he 
was  sent  to  Corinth  in  company  with  Erastus,  as  Paul's 
representative,  anticipating  the  more  important  mission 
which  he  was  one  day  to  undertake  in  Ephesus  itself, 
and  Paul  shews  his  yearning  affection  for  him  by  desig- 


so  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

nating  him  'my  beloved  and  faithful  child  in  the  Lord' 
(i  Cor.  iv.  17),  and  his  anxiety  for  the  timid  and  retiring 
nature  by  special  commendation  to  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor. 
xvi.  10,  11).  Towards  the  end  of  57  A.D.  he  had  rejoined 
his  master  in  Macedonia,for  he  was  with  him  when  2  Corin- 
thians was  written  (ch.  i.  i).  And  he  must  have  gone 
at  the  beginning  of  58  a.d.  to  Corinth  again,  because  he 
is  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  written  during 
the  three  months'  stay  in  Corinth  (Acts  xx.  2  ;  Rom.  xvi. 
21).  He  was  among  the  group  of  apostolic  ministers  who 
went  to  Troas  before  Paul,  and  waited  there  for  him  after 
his  detour  through  Macedonia  (Acts  xx.  4). 

And  then  again  we  lose  sight  of  him.  He  may  have 
been  dispatched  on  a  mission  of  comfort  or  organization 
to  some  of  the  new  European  churches ;  clearly  he  was 
not  with  Paul  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  imprisonment  at 
Caesarea,  or  on  the  perilous  voyage  to  Italy.  But  during 
the  two  years  of  detention  in  Rome,  Timothy  was  Paul's 
right  hand.  As  '  our  brother '  he  is  at  hand  when  Colossians 
and  Philemon  were  written  (i.  i),  and  as  a  'fellow  servant' 
he  joins  in  the  letter  to  the  Philippians  (i.  i),  to  whom  he 
is  shortly  to  be  sent  on  one  of  the  accustomed  missions 
of  inquiry  and  comfort  (ii.  19). 

Here  we  should  lose  sight  of  Timothy  the  satellite,  as 
we  should  of  Paul  himself,  but  for  the  Pastoral  Epistles, 
which,  if  they  are  genuine,  must  introduce  us  into  a  new 
period  of  Paul's  life,  when,  released  from  imprisonment 
at  Rome,  acquitted  in  all  probability  of  complicity  in  the 
great  fire  which  Nero  attributed  to  the  Christians,  he 
entered  on  a  few  more  years  of  strenuous  evangelism 
before  he  met  the  martyr's  death  and  received  the  crown. 
In  this  shadowy  and  uncertain  period,  by  the  gleams  of 
light  from  the  Pastorals,  we  find  Timothy  left,  evidently 
against  his  will,  to  carry  out  a  mission  of  church  settle- 
ment and  resistance  to  heresy  in  Ephesus  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Though  it  was  but  a  temporary  office,  quite 
unlike  that  of  a  second-century  bishop,  resting  entirely 


INTRODUCTION  51 

on  the  fact  that  he  was  a  representative  of  Paul,  and  was 
endued  with  a  charisma  for  the  purpose  (i  Tim.  iv.  14), 
when  he  was  left  alone  he  was  not  very  adequate  to  so 
magisterial  a  task,  and  the  Apostle  did  what  he  could  to 
sustain  his  authority  and  encourage  his  faintheartedness. 
But  whatever  might  have  been  his  inadequacy  for  posts 
of  danger,  he  was  evidently  fitted  for  the  work  of  comfort  ; 
and  2  Timothy,  which  is  like  Paul's  last  will  and  dying 
testament,  is  an  urgent  appeal  to  his  beloved  son  and 
brother  to  come  to  him  before  the  stroke  of  death  fell. 
We  do  not  know  whether  the  Apostle  had  his  desire ;  nor 
is  it  more  than  idle  tradition  which  says  that  Timothy 
perished  long  after  in  the  persecution  under  Domitian. 
The  only  other  reference  to  Timothy  is  his  '  release '  in 
Heb.  xiii.  23. 

Thus  Timothy  appears,  in  no  distinct  outlines,  as 
the  attendant  of  Paul.  We  have  no  words  from  his  lips, 
no  letters  from  his  pen,  unless  the  supposition  of  Prof. 
McGifFert  could  ever  be  substantiated  that  these  letters 
were  compiled  by  him  out  of  fragments  of  letters  which 
he  had  received  from  Paul.  Paul  loved  him ;  that 
is  all.  He  was  a  faithful  and  affectionate  helper  to  the 
world's  greatest  man.  He  is  illustrated  by  that  connexion. 
His  name  is  imperishable  because  it  occurs  in  the  fierce 
light  which  beats  upon  the  foundation  of  the  church,  and 
is  mentioned  with  affection  in  the  records  and  epistles  of 
Paul ;  but  that  light  does  not  produce  a  photograph,  nor 
do  the  lineaments  which  come  out  shew  as  those  of  a 
hero  or  a  saint.  '  My  child,'  *  my  true  child  in  the  faith,' 
thus,  on  the  lips  of  Paul,  Timothy  comes  before  us  for 
fourteen  or  at  most  eighteen  years,  and  vanishes,  never 
to  be  forgotten,  never  to  be  known,  loved  not  for  his  own 
sake,  but  because  Paul  loved  him,  an  example  of  the 
power  which  lies  in  a  great  man  to  make  others  noble 
and  even  illustrious  by  his  presence. 

Titus   is,    if  possible,   less   substantial  than  Timothy, 

£    2 


52  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

because  for  some  unexplained  reason  he  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Marker,  Graf,  and  Zimmer 
attempted  to  shew  that  Titus  is  another  name  of  Silas. 
This  cannot  be  maintained.  From  Gal.  ii.  i  it  is  appa- 
rent that  he  was  with  Paul  in  the  journey  of  Acts  xv.  2, 
while  Silas  was  sent  from  Jerusalem  (xv.  22).  His 
historical  reality  is  established  by  the  references  to 
him  in  the  two  unquestionable  Epistles,  Galatians  and 
2  Corinthians.  The  Pastoral  Epistle  addressed  to  Titus 
ekes  out  this  scanty  knowledge.  From  Galatians  it  appears 
that  he  was  brought  into  connexion  with  Paul  at  a  date 
considerably  earlier  than  Timothy  (ii.  1-4).  It  was  in  the 
journey  which  Paul  and  Barnabas  undertook  from  Antioch 
to  Jerusalem  in  order  to  establish  the  liberty  of  the  new 
gospel  to  the  Gentiles  that  Titus,  a  Greek  convert  of 
Paul  (Titus  i.  4),  accompanied  them,  probably  as  an 
ocular  demonstration  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem  of  what 
the  grace  of  God  was  doing  among  the  Gentiles.  We 
need  not  decide  here  whether  this  journey  to  Jerusalem 
was  that  of  Acts  xv.  (the  view  taken  by  almost  all  com- 
mentators) or  the  earlier  journey  noticed  briefly  in  Acts  xi. 
30  (as  Prof.  Ramsay  maintains,  St.  Paul  the  Traveller^  pp. 
56, 1 54) .  Titus  is  only  mentioned  to  shew  that  Paul  declined 
to  gratify  Jewish  prejudice  by  requiring  him,  a  Greek,  to 
be  circumcised.  This  very  early  notice  shews  that  if 
Titus  did  not  gain  the  place  which  Timothy  held  in  Paul's 
affections,  it  was  not  because  he  was  less  known  to  Paul, 
but  only  because  he  was  less  congenial.  The  notice  in 
2  Corinthians,  however,  proves  that  if  he  was  not  a  son 
of  consolation  like  Timothy  he  was  at  least  a  thoroughly 
efficient  lieutenant.  Towards  the  end  of  the  stay  in 
Ephesus  (Acts  xix)  he  was  sent  to  Corinth  to  get  together 
the  collection  (2  Cor.  viii.  6).  This  mission  he  carried 
out  with  zeal — '  being  himself  very  earnest,  he  went  forth 
unto  you  of  his  own  accord  (verse  17) — and  with  discretion: 
<Did  Titus  take  any  advantage  of  you?'  (xii.  18).  Paul 
was    consumed  with    anxiety   to    hear   from    Titus   the 


INTRODUCTION  53 

reports  from  Corinth  (2  Cor.  ii.  13),  and  could  neither  rest 
nor  do  his  work  until  Titus  came  back  (vii.  6).  It 
would  seem  that  2  Corinthians  was  carried  by  Titus  to 
its  destination  (2  Cor.  viii.  6). 

This  is  all  that  we  know  of  Titus,  except  from  the 
Pastoral  Epistle  of  that  name.  He  appears  only  as  an 
honest  and  efficient  helper  of  Paul,  who  did  not  come 
very  near  to  his  heart  or  play  any  important  part 
in  his  life.  In  our  Epistle  five  or  six  years  have 
passed  since  2  Corinthians  was  written,  though  Titus  is 
still  represented  as  a  subordinate  whose  authority  men 
might  despise  (Titus  ii.  15).  It  appears  that  after  the 
release  from  the  Roman  imprisonment  Paul,  among  other 
places,  visited  Crete.  The  Christian  communities  there 
needed  organizing,  and  Paul  found  in  Titus  one  to  whom 
he  could  entrust  the  delicate  task.  The  legend  which 
made  Titus  the  bishop  of  Gortyna,  resting  on  Eusebius's 
statement  that  he  was  bishop  of  Crete  {Hist.  Eccl.  iii.  4),  is 
quite  inconsistent  with  the  indications  of  this  Epistle. 
Titus  was  in  the  island  only  for  a  time,  and  was  to  join 
Paul  that  winter  at  Nicopolis  (iii.  12).  From  the  brief 
statement  of  2  Tim.  iv.  10  we  learn  that,  probably  when 
Paul  crossed  the  Adriatic  for  Italy,  Titus  went  northwards 
along  the  coast  on  a  mission  to  Dalmatia,  and  there  he 
disappears  from  history,  only  to  reappear  doubtfully  in 
legend. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  apart  from  this  letter,  Titus 
would  not  be  distinguishable  from  the  rest  of  the  com- 
panions of  Paul,  and  as  the  letter  sheds  no  light  upon  his 
character,  and  reveals  only  the  fact  that  his  mission  work 
was  carried  out  in  the  island  of  Crete,  we  cannot  say  that 
it  is,  from  the  personal  point  of  view,  of  any  great  value. 

A  genuine  believer,  an  active  and  energetic  deputy, 
a  representative  of  the  great  Apostle,  that  is  all  we  can 
say  of  him.  He  lives  in  history  because  of  his  relations 
with  the  world's  greatest  human  teacher. 


CONTENTS   OF   THE   EPISTLES 
I  TIMOTHY 

I  Timothy  falls  into  four  parts  : — 
Z.  Salatation.     i.  i.  2. 

(a)  A  warning  against  certain  false  teachers  (i.  3,  4). 

The  wholesome  doctrine,  especially  that  of  the  law,  to 

set  against  them  (5-11). 
(6)  This  reference  to  the  true  gospel  of  Paul  is  strengthened 

by  a  recollection  of  Paul's  own  experience  of  God's 

free  grace  (12-17). 
(c)  For  this  gospel  Timothy  is  to  contend,  warned  by  the 

example  of  those  who   have  forsaken    it   and  made 

shipwreck  (18-20}.. 

II.  Begulations  of  a  Christiau  Cliurch.     ii,  iii. 

(rt)  Common  prayer,  especially  for  authorities,  to  be  for  all, 
as  God's  grace  is  for  all,  according  to  Paul's  preaching 
(ii.  1-7). 

(6)  Men  are  all  to  pray  in  the  assembly,  but  not  women, 
who  are  to  shew  their  piety  by  modest  dress  and 
silence  in  the  church,  and  by  faithful  work  at  home, 
because  Adam  was  made  before  Eve,  and  Eve  tempted 
Adam  (8-15). 

(c)  Officers  of  the  church — qualifications  for  bishops  or  elders 
(iii.  1-7)  ; 
and  for  deacons  and  deaconesses  (8-13). 

{(i)  Importance  of  the  right  management  of  the  church, 
because  the  truth  rests  upon  it  (14-16). 

III.     In  contrast  witli  a  true  church,     iv. 
(rt)  False  teachers  who  will  appear,  demanding  asceticism 

(1-3) ; 

and  marring  the  proper  gratitude  to  God  (4,  5\ 

(b)  Instead  of  bodily  asceticism,  godliness  is  to  be  sought 

(6-8) ; 

for  which  Paul  always  strives  (9-11^. 

(c)  Timothy  is  to  exercise  his  charisma  to  save  himself  and 

his  hearers  (12-16^. 


56  CONTENTS  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

IV.  Certain   directions  for  the  pastor  in  relation  with 
his  flock.     V,  vi. 

(a)  The  treatment  of  the  old  and  the  young  (v.  x,  2). 

,,  ,,  of  widows  and  their  maintenance  (3-8). 

The  admission  of  widows  into  the  hst  of  church  widows 

(9-16). 
The  treatment  of  good  elders  (17,  18),  and  discipline  of 

them    (19,    20),    with    admonition    about    Timothy's 

personal  behaviour  (21-25). 
The  conduct  of  slaves  (vi.  i,  2). 

(6)  Another  blow  at  the  false  teachers  (3-5). 

Another  statement  of  true  godliness  as  opposed  to  avarice 

(6-10). 
Another  personal  exhortation  to  Timothy  to  witness  a 
good  confession,  with  a  noble  apostrophe  to  God  as 
only  Potentate  (11-17). 
A  caution  delivered  to  the  rich  (17-19"). 
A  warning  against  false  Gnosis  (20,  21). 
Salutation  to  Timoth}^  and  his  church. 


II  TIMOTHY 

After  the  Salutaft'on  (i.  i,  2)   the  Epistle  falls  into  three 
parts,  thus : — 

I.  An  exhortation  to  a  tme  and  fearless  contention  for 
the  gospel,     i.  3 — ii.  13. 

(a)  Paul's   thought  of  Timothy  and  of  his  early  training 

(i.  3-5). 
(6)  Reminder  to  use  the  gifts  received  without  shame  (6-8). 

(c)  The  exhortation  grounded  on  the  greatness  of  the  sal- 
vation (9,  10), 
and  on  the  example  of  the  Apostle  (11-14). 

{d)  Those  who  have,  and  those  who  have  not,  been  true  to 
him  (15-18). 

{e)  The  soldier  of  Christ  urged  to  be  diligent  (ii.  1-7),  and 
identified  with  Christ  (8-13). 

ZI.  The  warfare  against  error  and  apostasy,    ii.  14 — iv.  8. 

Exhortation  to  purity  of  life  and  doctrine  in  face  of 
(a)  present  apostasy  (ii.  14-26),  and  {^b)  an  apostasy 
yet  to  come  (iii.  1-9). 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  EPISTLES  57 

Timothy,  trained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  following  Paul's 
example  (iii.  10-17),  is  to  be  ready  to  take  up  Paul's 
work,  whose  departure  is  at  hand  (iv.  1-8). 

III.  Conclusion:   prayers,  news,  eri^eeting's,  benediction, 
iv.  9-22, 


TITUS 

The  Salutation,     i.  1-4. 

I.  Directions  for  the  appointment  of  elders  (i.  5-9). 
The  false  teachers  exposed  (io-i6\ 

II.  The  healthy  teaching  applied  to  aged  men   (ii.   i,   2), 
aged  women  (3),  young  women  (4,  5),  young  men  (6), 
to  slaves  (7-10). 
The  appearance  of  the  grace  of  God  as  the  ground  of  all 

III.  The  right  relation  to  the  non-Christian  world  (iii.  1-8). 
The  treatment  of  false  teachers  (9-1 1). 

IV.  Directions  and  greetings  (12-15). 


AUTHORITIES 

The  following  Commentary  owes  most  to  three  com- 
mentators :-- 

1.  Dr.  Bernard,  in  the  Cambridge  Greek  Testament 
series.  I  owe  so  much  to  his  admirable  little  Commentary 
that  I  greatly  regret  to  be  obliged  so  frequently  to  express 
a  difference  of  opinion.  He  approaches  his  exegesis  with 
certain  preconceived  dogmatic  positions  in  his  mind.  But 
wherever  he  is  not  biassed  by  dogma  or  ecclesiastical 
tradition,  he  is  admirably  clear  and  full  of  knowledge. 
Holding,  as  I  believe,  better  principles,  I  can  only  wish 
that  I  could  lay  claim  to  a  tithe  of  his  learning  and  ability. 

2.  Prof.  VON  SODEN,  in  that  admirable  series  of 
Commentaries  known  in  Germany  as  the  Hand-Com- 
me?ttar.  Von  Soden  does  not  accept  the  Pauline  author- 
ship of  the  letters,  and  brings  to  his  task  the  bias  of 
a  school.  But  he  is  perfectly  candid,  and  always  clear; 
so  that  where  one  is  obliged  to  differ  from  him,  there 
need  be  no  confusion  about  the  points  at  issue. 

3.  Prof.  ZOCKLER  and  Eduard  Riggenbach,  in  the 
Kurzgefasster  Comjnentar.  The  point  of  view  adopted 
in  this  Commentary  is  conservative,  and  is  practically  the 
same  as  Zahn's  in  his  Introduction. 

Other  writers  who  have  been  invaluable  are  Prof. 
McGiffert  and  Mr.  Vernon  Bartlet,  in  their  books 
on  the  Apostolic  Age,  and  Prof.  HORT  in  his  inestimable 
Christian  Ecclesia. 

To  mention  all  the  commentators  and  writers  who  have 
gone  to  produce  even  so  small  and  unpretentious  a  work 
as  this  would  be  impossible.  I  am  conscious  that  I  owe 
far  more  to  the  scholars  at  whose  feet  I  have  sat  than 
I  can  possibly  expect  the  readers  of  this  book  to  owe 
to  me. 


THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 

I,  II  TIMOTHY  AND  TITUS 

AUTHORIZED  VERSION 


THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE 

TO 

TIMOTHY  chap.1 

1  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  com-  saiuta- 
mandment  of  God  our  Saviour,  and  Lord  Jesus     '^' 

2  Christ,  ivhich  is  our  hope ;  unto  Timothy,  my  own 
son  in  the  faith :  Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from 
God  our  Father  and  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

3  As  I  besought  thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus,  False  and 
when  I  went  into  Macedonia,  that  thou  mightest  teaching, 
charge  some  that  they  teach  no  other  doctrine, 

4  neither  give  heed  to  fables  and  endless  genealogies, 
which  minister  questions,  rather  than  godly  edifying 

5  which  is  in  faith  :  so  do.  Now  the  end  of  the 
commandment  is  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart,  and 

6  of  a.  good  conscience,  and  ^  faith  unfeigned:  from 
which   some   having   swerved   have   turned  aside 

7  unto  vain  jangling  ;  desiring  to  be  teachers  of  the 
law;  understanding  neither  what  they  say,  nor 
whereof  they  affirm. 

8  But  we  know  that  the  law  is  good,  if  a  man  use 

9  it  lawfully ;  knowing  this,  that  the  law  is  not  made 
for  a  righteous  man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  dis- 
obedient, for  the  ungodly  and  for  sinners,  for 
unholy  and  profane,  for  murderers  of  fathers  and 

10  murderers  nf  mothers,  for  manslayers,  for  whore- 


62  I   TIMOTHY 

Chap.  1  mongers,  for  them  that  defile  themselves  with 
mankind,  for  menstealers,  for  liars,  for  perjured 
persons,  and  if  there  be  any  other  thing  that  is 
contrary  to  sound  doctrine;  according  to  the  ii 
glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God,  which  was 
committed  to  my  trust. 

And  I  thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  who  hath   12 
enabled   me,    for   that    he   counted    me   faithful, 
putting  me  into  the  ministry;  who  was  before  a  13 
blasphemer,  and  a  persecutor,  and  injurious :   but 
I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  //  ignorantly  in 
unbelief.    And  the  grace  of  our  Lord  was  exceeding  14 
abundant  with  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus.     This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  15 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners ;  of  whom  I  am  chief.      Howbeit  16 
for  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in  me  first 
Jesus  Christ  might  shew  forth  all  longsuffering,  for 
a  pattern  to  them  which  should  hereafter  believe 
on  him  to  life  everlasting.     Now  unto  the  King  17 
eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  be 
honour  and  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

This  charge  I  commit  unto  thee,  son  Timothy,   i8 
according  to  the  prophecies  which  went  before  on 
thee,    that   thou   by   them   mightest  war  a  good 
warfare ;    holding  faith,  and  a  good  conscience ;  19 
which  some  having  put  away  concerning  faith  have 
made   shipwreck :    of   whom   is    Hymenaeus   and  20 
Alexander ;    whom  I  have  delivered  unto  Satan, 
that  they  may  learn  not  to  blaspheme. 

I  exhort  therefore,  that,  first  of  all,  supplications,  2 
prayers,   intercessions,   and  giving  of  thanks,    be 
made  for  all  men ;  for  kings,  and  for  all  that  are  2 


I    TIMOTHY  63 

in  authority  ;  that  we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peace-    Chnp.  2 

3  able  life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.  For  this  is 
good   and   acceptable   in   the   sight   of  God  our 

4  Saviour  ;  who  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and 

5  to  come  unto  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  For 
there  is  one  God,  and  one  mediator  between  God 

6  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus ;  who  gave  himself 
a   ransom   for  all,    to  be   testified   in  due   time. 

7  Whereunto  I  am  ordained  a  preacher,  and  an 
apostle,  (I  speak  the  truth  in  Christ,  and  lie  not ;) 
a  teacher  of  the  Gentiles  in  faith  and  verity. 

8  I  will  therefore  that  men  pray  every  where,  lifting  Women's 

9  up  holy  hands,  without  wrath  and  doubting.  In 
like  manner  also,  that  women  adorn  themselves  in 
modest  apparel,  with  shamefacedness  and  sobriety; 
not  with  broided  hair,  or  gold,  or  pearls,  or  costly 

10  array ;    but  (which   becometh   women   professing 

1 1  godliness)  with  good  works.     Let  the  woman  learn 

12  in  silence  with  all  subjection.  But  I  suffer  not 
a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  authority  over  the 

13  man,  but  to  be  in  silence.     For  Adam  was  first 

14  formed,  then  Eve.  And  Adam  was  not  deceived, 
but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in  the  trans- 

15  gression.  Notwithstanding  she  shall  be  saved  in 
childbearing,  if  they  continue  in  faith  and  charity 
and  holiness  with  sobriety. 

3       This  is  a  true  saying,  If  a  man  desire  the  office  Bishops 

2  of  a  bishop,  he  desireth  a  good  work.     A  bishop  deacons, 
then  must  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife, 
vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behaviour,  given  to  hos- 

3  pitality,  apt  to  teach;  not  given  to  wine,  no  striker, 
not   greedy   of  filthy   lucre ;    but   patient,    not   a 

4  brawler^  not  covetous ;   one  that  ruleth  well  his 


64 


I   TIMOTHY 


II 


12 


Chap.  3    own  house,  having  his  children  in  subjection  with 

all  gravity ;  (for  if^  a  man  know  not  how  to  rule  his     5 
own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of  the  church  of 
God  ?)  not  a  novice,  lest  being  lifted  up  with  pride    6 
he  fall  into  the  condemnation  of  the  devil.     More-    7 
over  he  must  have  a  good  report  of  them  which  are 
without ;   lest  he  fall  into  reproach  and  the  snare 
of  the  devil. 

Likewise  must  the  deacons  be  grave,  not  double-    .'^^ 
tongued,  not  given  to  much  wine,  not  greedy  of 
filthy  lucre ;    holding  the  mystery  of  the  faith  in     9 
a  pure  conscience.      And  let  these  also  first  be  10 
proved  ;  then  let  them  use  the  office  of  a  deacon, 
being  foicnd  blameless.     Even  so  must  their  wives 
be  grave,  not  slanderers,  sober,  faithful  in  all  things. 
Let  the  deacons  be  the  husbands  of  one  wife, 
ruhng  their  children  and  their  own  houses  well. 
For  they  that  have  used  the  office  of  a  deacon  well  13 
purchase  to  themselves  a  good  degree,  and  great 
boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
The  These  things  write  I  unto  thee,  hoping  to  come  14 

the^iving   "^^o  thee  shortly:  but  if  I  tarry  long,  that  thou  15 
God.  mayest  know  how  thou  oughtest  to  behave  thyself 

in  the  house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  of  the 
hving  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth. 
And  without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery  of  I'i 
godliness  :  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified 
in  the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the 
Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up 
into  glory. 

Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  4 
latter  times  some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving 
heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils; 


I   TIMOTHY  65 

3  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy;  having  their  conscience    Chap.  4 

3  seared  with  a  hot  iron  ;  forbidding  to  marry,  and 
com?natiding  to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God 
hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  of 

4  them  which  believe  and  know  the  truth.  For 
every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing  to  be 

5  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving  :  for  it 
is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer. 

6  If  thou  put  the  brethren   in  remembrance  of  The  spiri- 
these  things,    thou   shalt    be  a  good  minister  ofcism?^*^^ 
Jesus  Christ,  nourished  up  in  the  words  of  faith 

and  of  good  doctrine,  whereunto  thou  hast  attained. 

7  But   refuse   profane   and    old   wives'    fables,    and 

8  exercise  thyself  rather  unto  godliness.  For  bodily 
exercise  profiteth  little  :  but  godliness  is  profitable 
unto  all  things,  having  promise  of  the  life  that  now 

9  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come.    This  is  a  faithful 

10  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  For  therefore 
we  both  labour  and  suffer  reproach,  because  we  trust 
in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men, 

11  specially  of  those  that  believe.     These  things  com- 

12  mand  and  teach.  Let  no  man  despise  thy  youth  ; 
but  be  thou  an  example  of  the  believers,  in  word, 
in  conversation,  in  charity,   in  spirit,  in  faith,  in 

13  purity.      Till  I  come,  give  attendance  to  reading, 

14  to  exhortation,  to  doctrine.  Neglect  not  the  gift 
that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy, 
with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery. 

15  Meditate  upon  these  things ;  give  thyself  wholly 
to  them  ;    that  thy  profiting  may  appear  to  all. 

16  Take  heed  unto  thyself,  and  unto  the  doctrine ; 
continue  in  them  :  for  in  doing  this  thou  shalt 
both  save  thyself,  and  them  that  hear  thee. 

F 


66  I   TIMOTHY 

Chap.  5        Rebuke  not  an  elder,  but  intreat  hi7n  as  a  father;    5 
Widows.    «^«^  the  younger  men  as  brethren;  the  elder  women    2 
as  mothers ;  the  younger  as  sisters,  with  all  purity. 
Honour  widows  that  are  widows  indeed.     But  if 3, 4 
any  widow  have  children  or  nephews,   let  them 
learn  first  to  shew  piety  at  home,  and  to  requite 
their   parents  :    for  that  is  good  and   acceptable 
before  God.     Now  she  that  is  a  widow  indeed,    5 
and  desolate,  trusteth  in  God,  and  continueth  in 
supplications  and  prayers  night  and  day.     But  she    6 
that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth. 
And  these  things  give  in  charge,  that  they  may  be    7 
blameless.    But  if  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and    8 
specially   for   those  of  his  own    house,    he   hath 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel. 
Let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into  the  number  under    9 
threescore  years  old,  having  been  the  wife  of  one 
man,  well  reported  of  for  good  works ;  if  she  have  1  o 
brought  up  children,  if  she  have  lodged  strangers, 
if  she  have  washed  the  saints'  feet,  if  she  have 
relieved  the  afflicted,  if  she  have  diligently  followed 
every  good  work.    But  the  younger  widows  refuse:  i: 
for  when  they  have  begun  to  wax  wanton  against 
Christ,  they  will  marry;  having  damnation,  because  12 
they  have  cast  off  their  first  faith.    And  withal  they  13 
learn  to  be  idle,  wandering  about  from  house  to 
house ;  and  not  only  idle,   but  tattlers  also  and 
busybodies,  speaking  things  which  they  ought  not. 
I  will  therefore  that  the  younger  women  marry,  14 
bear  children,  guide  the  house,  give  none  occasion 
to  the  adversary  to  speak  reproachfully.    For  some  15 
are  already  turned  aside  after  Satan.     If  any  man  16 
or  woman  that  believeth  have  widows,   let  them 


I   TIMOTHY  67 

relieve  them,  and  let  not  the  church  be  charged ;    Chap.  5 
that  it  may  relieve  them  that  are  widows  indeed. 

17  Let  the  elders  that  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  Elders, 
of  double  honour,  especially  they  who  labour  in 

18  the  word  and  doctrine.  For  the  scripture  saith, 
Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the 
corn.     And,  The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  reward. 

19  Against  an  elder  receive  not  an  accusation,  but 

20  before  two  or  three  witnesses.      Them  that   sin 

21  rebuke  before  all,  that  others  also  may  fear.  I 
charge  thee  before  God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  elect  angels,  that  thou  observe  these 
things  without  preferring  one  before  another,  doing 

22  nothing  by  partiality.  Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no 
man,  neither  be  partaker  of  other  men's  sins  : 

23  Keep  thyself  pure.  Drink  no  longer  water,  but 
use  a  little  wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake  and  thine 
often  infirmities. 

24  Some  men's  sins  are  open  beforehand,  going 
before  to  judgment ;  and  some  ??ien  they  follow 

25  after.  Likewise  also  the  good  works  of  some  are 
manifest  beforehand ;  and  they  that  are  otherwise 
cannot  be  hid. 

6       Let  as  many  servants  as  are  under  the  yoke  Slaves, 
count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honour,  that 
the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not  blas- 

2  phemed.  And  they  that  have  believing  masters,  let 
them  not  despise  them^  because  they  are  brethren ; 
but  rather  do  them  service,  because  they  are  faith- 
ful and  beloved,  partakers  of  the  benefit.  These 
things  teach  and  exhort. 

3  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  and  consent  not  to  The  false 

wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  our   Lord  and 

avarice. 
F  2 


68  I   TIMOTHY 

Chap.  6    Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  according 

to  godHness;  he  is  proud,  knowing  nothing,  but    4 
doting  about  questions  and  strifes  of  words,  where- 
of cometh   envy,   strife,   railings,   evil  surmisings, 
perverse  disputings  of  men  of  corrupt  minds,  and    5 
destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that  gain  is  god- 
liness :  from  such  withdraw  thyself. 

But  godliness  with  contentment  is  great  gain.     6 
For  we  brought  nothing  into  this  world,  a7id  it  is     7 
certain  we  can  carry  nothing  out.     And  having    8 
food  and  raiment  let  us  be  therewith  content.    But    9 
they  that  will  be  rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a 
snare,   and  into   many  foolish  and  hurtful   lusts, 
which  drown  men  in  destruction  and   perdition. 
For  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil;  which  10 
while  some  coveted  after,  they  have  erred  from  the 
faith,  and  pierced  themselves  through  with  many 
sorrows. 
Appeal  to       But  thou,  O  man  of  God,  flee  these  things;  and  n 
follow  after  righteousness,   godliness,   faith,   love, 
patience,  meekness.     Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  12 
lay  hold  on  eternal  life,  whereunto  thou  art  also 
called,  and  hast  professed  a  good  profession  before 
many  witnesses.     I  give  thee  charge  in  the  sight  13 
of  God,   who  quickeneth   all   things,    and   before 
Christ  Jesus,  who  before  Pontius  Pilate  witnessed 
a  good  confession ;  that  thou  keep  this  command-  14 
ment  without  spot,  unrebukeable,  until  the  appearing 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  which  in  his  times  he  15 
shall  shew,  tvho  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate, 
the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords ;    who  only  16 
hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  the  light  which  no 
man    can   approach    unto ;   whom    no   man  hath 


Timothy, 


I  TIMOTHY  69 

seen,  nor  can  see  :  to  whom  be  honour  and  power    chap.  6 
everlasting.     Amen. 

17  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  world,   that  To  the 

rich* 
they  be  not  highminded,   nor  trust  in  uncertam 

riches,  but  in  the  living  God,  who  giveth  us  richly 

18  all  things  to  enjoy;  that  they  do  good,  that  they 
be  rich  in  good  works,  ready  to  distribute,  willing 

19  to  communicate  ;  laying  up  in  store  for  themselves 
a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that 
they  may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 

20  O  Timothy,  keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy  False 
trust,   avoiding  profane  and  vain   babblings,   and  ^"°^^^* 

21  oppositions  of  science  falsely  so  called  :  which 
some  professing  have  erred  concerning  the  faith. 
Grace  be  with  thee.     Amen. 

The  first  to  Timothy  was  written  from  Laodicea, 
which  is  the  chiefest  city  of  Phrygia  Pacatiana. 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE 

TO 

chap.i  TIMOTHY 


Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  1 
God,  according  to  the  promise  of  life  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus,  to  Timothy,  my  dearly  beloved  son  :  2 
Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  the  Father  and 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  niy  forefathers  3 
with  pure  conscience,  that  without  ceasing  I  have 
remembrance  of  thee  in  my  prayers  night  and  day; 
greatly  desiring  to  see  thee,  being  mindful  of  thy  4 
tears,  that  I  may  be  filled  with  joy ;  when  I  call  to  5 
remembrance  the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee, 
which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grandmother   Lois,  and 
thy  mother  Eunice ;   and  I  am  persuaded  that  in 
thee  also. 

Wherefore  I  put  thee  in  remembrance  that  thou  6 
stir  up  the  gift  of  God,  which  is  in  thee  by  the 
putting  on  of  my  hands.     For  God  hath  not  given  7 
us  the  spirit  of  fear ;   but  of  power,  and  of  love, 
and  of  a  sound    mind.     Be   not   thou   therefore  8 
ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me 
his  prisoner :  but  be  thou  partaker  of  the  afflictions 
of  the  gospel  according  to  the  power  of  God  ;  who  9 


II   TIMOTHY  71 

hath  saved  us,  and  called  us  with  an  holy  calling,    Chap.  1 
not  according  to  our  works,  but  according  to  his 
own  purpose  and  grace,   which  was  given  us  in 

10  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  began,  but  is  now 
made  manifest  by  the  appearing  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abolished  death,  and  hath 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the 

11  gospel :  whereunto  I  am  appointed  a  preacher,  and 

12  an  apostle,  and  a  teacher  of  the  Gentiles.  For  the 
which  cause  I  also  suffer  these  things  :  nevertheless 
I  am  not  ashamed :  for  I  know  whom  I  have 
believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to  keep 
that  which  I  have  committed  unto   him   against 

13  that  day.  Hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words, 
which  thou  hast  heard  of  me,  in  faith  and  love 

14  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  That  good  thing  which 
was  committed  unto  thee  keep  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  dwelleth  in  us. 

15  This  thou  knowest,  that  all  they  which  are  in  Friends 
Asia  be  turned  away  from  me  ;   of  whom  are  Phy-  ^"    °^^* 

1 6  gellus  and  Hermogenes.  The  Lord  give  mercy 
unto  the  house  of  Onesiphorus ;  for  he  oft  refreshed 

17  me,  and  was  not  ashamed  of  my  chain  :  but,  when 
he  was  in  Rome,  he  sought  me  out  very  diligently, 

18  and  found  me.  The  Lord  grant  unto  him  that  he 
may  find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  that  day :  and  in 
how  many  things  he  ministered  unto  me  at  Ephesus, 
thou  knowest  very  well. 

2      Thou  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong  in  the  grace  The 

2  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.     And  the  things  that  thou  Christ!  ° 
hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the  same 
commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to 

3  teach  others  also.     Thou  therefore  endure  hard- 


72  II   TIMOTHY 

Chap.  2    ness,  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.     No  man    4 
that  warreth  entangleth  himself  with  the  affairs  of 
tkis  life ;  that  he  may  please  him  who  hath  chosen 
him  to  be  a  soldier.     And  if  a  man  also  strive  for    5 
masteries,  yet  is  he  not  crowned,  except  he  strive 
lawfully.     The  husbandman   that  laboureth  must    6 
be  first  partaker  of  the  fruits.     Consider  what  I  say  ;     7 
and  the  Lord  give  thee  understanding  in  all  things. 

Remember  that  Jesus   Christ   of  the   seed   of    8 
David  was  raised  from  the  dead  according  to  my 
gospel :   wherein  I  suffer  trouble,  as  an  evil  doer,    9 
even  unto  bonds ;   but  the  word  of  God   is   not 
bound.      Therefore  I  endure   all   things  for   the  10 
elect's  sakes,  that  they  may  also  obtain  the  sal- 
vation which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  with  eternal  glory. 
//  is  a  faithful  saying:   For  if  we  be  dead  with  n 
him^  we  shall  also  live  with  him  :  if  we  suffer,  we  12 
shall  also  reign  with  h'm :  if  we  deny  /lim,  he  also 
will  deny  us:  if  we  believe  not,  yef  he   abideth  13 
faithful :  he  cannot  deny  himself 

Of  these  things  put  t/iem  in  remembrance,  charg-  1 4 
ing   t/iem  before  the   Lord   that   they   strive   not 
about  words  to  no  profit,  duf  to  the  subverting  of 
the  hearers.     Study  to  shew  thyself  approved  unto  15 
God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed, 
rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth.     But  shun  pro-  16 
fane  and  vain    babblings :    for  they  v/ill    increase 
unto  more  ungodliness.     And  their  word  will  eat  17 
as  doth  a  canker:    of  whom  is  Hymenaeus   and 
Philetus ;   who  concerning  the  truth  have  erred,  18 
saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already  ;  and 
overthrow  the  faith  of  some. 

Nevertheless   the   foundation  of  God  standeth  19 


II   TIMOTHY  73 

sure,  having  this  seal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them    Chap.  2 
that  are  his.     And,  Let  every  one  that  nameth  the 

20  name  of  Christ  depart  from  iniquity.  But  in  a 
great  house  there  are  not  only  vessels  of  gold  and 
of  silver,  but  also  of  wood  and  of  earth  ;  and  some 

21  to  honour,  and  some  to  dishonour.  If  a  man 
therefore  purge  himself  from  these,  he  shall  be 
a  vessel  unto  honour,  sanctified,  and  meet  for  the 
master's  use,  aftd  prepared  unto  every  good  work. 

2  3       Flee  also  youthful  lusts  :  but  follow  righteous- 

ness, faith,  charity,  peace,  with  them  that  call  on 

23  the  Lord  out  of  a  pure  heart.  But  foolish  and 
unlearned  questions  avoid,  knowing  that  they  do 

24  gender  strifes.  And  the  servant  of  the  Lord  must 
not  strive ;  but  be  gentle  unto  all  men,  apt  to  teach, 

25  patient,  in  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose 
themselves ;  if  God  peradventure  will  give  them 

26  repentance  to  the  acknowledging  of  the  truth  ;  and 
that  they  may  recover  themselves  out  of  the  snare 
of  the  devil,  who  are  taken  captive  by  him  at  his 
will. 

3  This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous  The 

2  times  shall  come.     For  men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  fo  come.^ 
own  selves,  covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blasphemers, 

3  disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful,  unholy,  without 
natural  affection,  trucebreakers,  false  accusers,  in- 
continent, fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good, 

4  traitors,    heady,   highminded,  lovers   of  pleasures 

5  more  than  lovers  of  God ;  having  a  form  of  god- 
liness, but  denying  the  power  thereof :  from  such 

6  turn  away.  For  of  this  sort  are  they  which  creep 
into  houses,  and  lead  captive  silly  women  laden 

7  with  sins,  led  away  with  divers  lusts,  ever  learning, 


74 


II   TIMOTHY 


Chap.  3    and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 

truth.     Now   as   Jannes   and   Jambres    withstood    8 
Moses,  so  do  these  also  resist  the  truth  :  men  of 
corrupt   minds,    reprobate    concerning   the   faith. 
But  they  shall  proceed  no  further  :  for  their  folly    9 
shall  be  manifest  unto  all  men^  as  their's  also  was. 

But  thou  hast  fully  known  my  doctrine,  manner  10 
of    life,    purpose,     faith,    longsuffering,     charity, 
patience,  persecutions,  afflictions,  which  came  unto  1 1 
me  at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra ;  what  perse- 
cutions  I   endured :    but    out    of    them    all    the 
Lord  delivered  me.     Yea,  and  all   that  will   live  12 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution.     But  13 
evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and  worse, 
deceiving,  and  being  deceived. 

But  continue  thou  in  the  things  which  thou  hast  14 
learned  and  hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom 
thou  hast  learned  them  ;  and  that  from  a  child  thou  15 
hast  known  the  holy  scriptures,  which  are  able  to 
make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.     All  scripture  is  given  by  in-  16 
spiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness:  thatthemanofGodmay  be  perfect,  throughly  17 
furnished  unto  all  good  works. 

I  charge  thee  therefore  before  God,  and  the  Lord  4 
Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead  at  his  appearing  and  his  kingdom ;   preach  2 
the  word ;   be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season  ; 
reprove,  rebuke,  exhort  with  all  longsuffering  and 
doctrine.     For  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  3 
not  endure  sound  doctrine ;   but  after  their  own 
lusts  shall  they  heap  to  themselves  teachers,  having 


II   TIMOTHY  75 

4  itching  ears ;  and  they  shall  turn  away  their  ears    Chap.  4 
from  the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  unto  fables. 

5  But  watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do 
the  work  of  an  evangelist,  make  full  proof  of  thy 
ministry. 

6  For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time 

7  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 

8  faith  :  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown 
of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day  :  and  not  to  me 
only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing. 

9  Do  thy   diligence   to   come   shortly  unto   me  :  News. 

10  for  Demas  hath  forsaken  me,  having  loved  this 
present  world,  and  is  departed  unto  Thessalonica ; 

11  Crescens  to  Galatia,  Titus  unto  Dalmatia.  Only 
Luke  is  with  me.  Take  Mark,  and  bring  him 
with   thee :  for   he   is    profitable   to   me   for   the 

12  ministry.     And  Tychicus  have  I  sent  to  Ephesus. 

13  The  cloke  that  I  left  at  Troas  with  Carpus, 
when  thou  comest,  bring  with  thee^  and  the 
books,  but  especially  the  parchments. 

14  Alexander  the  coppersmith  did  me  much  evil : 

1 5  the  Lord  reward  him  according  to  his  works :  of 
whom  be  thou  ware  also ;  for  he  hath  greatly  with- 
stood our  words. 

16  At  my  first  answer  no  man  stood  with  me,  but 
all  men  forsook  me  :  I  pray  God  that  it  may  not  be 

17  laid  to  their  charge.  Notwithstanding  the  Lord 
stood  with  me,  and  strengthened  me ;  that  by  me 
the  preaching  might  be  fully  known,  and  that  all 
the  Gentiles  might  hear :  and  I  was  delivered  out 

18  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion.     And  the  Lord  shall 


76  II   TIMOTHY 

Chap.  4    deliver  me  from  every  evil  work,  and  will  preserve 
me  unto  his  heavenly  kingdom :  to  whom  be  glory 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 
Greetings       Salute   Prisca  and  Aquila,  and  the  household  19 
diction"^    of  Onesiphorus.     Erastus  abode  at  Corinth  :  but  20 
Trophimus  have  I  left  at  Miletum  sick.     Do  thy  21 
diligence  to  come  before  winter.    Eubulus  greeteth 
thee,  and  Pudens,  and  Linus,  and  Claudia,  and  all 
the  brethren.     The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  thy  22 
spirit.     Grace  be  with  you.     Amen. 

The  second  epistle  unto  Timotheus,  ordained  the 
first  bishop  of  the  church  of  the  Ephesians, 
was  written  from  Rome,  when  Paul  was 
brought  before  Nero  the  second  time. 


THE  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  TO 

TITUS  Chap.l 

1  Paul,  a  servant  of  God,  and  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Saiuta- 
Christ,  according  to  the  faith  of  God's  elect,  and  **°^' 
the  acknowledging  of  the  truth  which  is  after  god- 

2  liness;   in  hope  of  eternal  hfe,  which  God,  that 

3  cannot  lie,  promised  before  the  world  began ;  but 
hath  in  due  times  manifested  his  word  through 
preaching,  which  is  committed  unto  me  according 

4  to  the  commandment  of  God  our  Saviour;  to 
Titus,  viine  own  son  after  the  common  faith : 
Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  the  Father 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour. 

5  For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  Eiders. 
shouldest  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting, 

and  ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  appointed 

6  thee :  if  any  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one 
wife,  having  faithful  children  not  accused  of  riot 

7  or  unruly.  For  a  bishop  must  be  blameless,  as 
the  steward  of  God ;  not  self-willed,  not  soon 
angry,  not  given  to  wine,  no  striker,  not  given  to 

8  filthy  lucre ;  but  a  lover  of  hospitality,  a  lover  of 

9  good  men,  sober,  just,  holy,  temperate ;  holding 
fast  the  faithful  word  as  he  hath  been  taught,  that 


78 


TITUS 


lO 

II 


Chap.  1    he  may  be  able  by  sound  doctrine  both  to  exhort 
and  to  convince  the  gainsayers. 

For  there  are  many  unruly  and  vain  talkers  and 
deceivers,  specially  they  of  the  circumcision  :  whose 
mouths  must  be  stopped,  who  subvert  whole  houses, 
teaching  things  which   they  ought  not,  for  filthy 
lucre's  sake.     One  of  themselves,  eve7i  a  prophet  12 
of  their  own,  said,  The  Cretians  are  alway  liars, 
evil  beasts,   slow  bellies.      This  witness   is   true.  13 
Wherefore  rebuke  them  sharply,  that  they  may  be 
sound  in  the  faith ;    not  giving  heed  to  Jewish  14 
fables,  and  commandments  of  men,  that  turn  from 
the  truth.     Unto  the  pure  all  things  are  pure  :  but  15 
unto   them   that   are   defiled   and  unbelieving  is 
nothing  pure ;  but  even  their  mind  and  conscience 
is   defiled.     They  profess  that  they  know  God;  16 
but    in    works    they    deny    hi7n^    being    abomin- 
able, and  disobedient,  and  unto  every  good  work 
reprobate. 

But  speak  thou  the  things  which  become  sound    2 
doctrine :    that    the   aged   men    be   sober,    grave,     a 
temperate,  sound  in  faith,  in  charity,  in  patience. 
The  aged  women  likewise,  that  they  be  in  behaviour    3 
as  becometh  holiness,  not  false  accusers,  not  given 
to  much  wine,  teachers  of  good  things ;  that  they    4 
may  teach  the  young  women  to  be  sober,  to  love 
their  husbands,  to  love  their  children,  to  be  dis-    5 
creet,  chaste,  keepers  at  home,  good,  obedient  to 
their  own  husbands,  that  the  word  of  God  be  not 
blasphemed.     Young  men  likewise  exhort  to  be    6 
sober  minded.      In  all  things  shewing  thyself  a    7 
pattern  of  good  works  :  in  doctrine  shelving  uncor- 
ruptness,    gravity,    sincerity,    sound    speech,    that    8 


TITUS  79 

cannot  be  condemned  ;  that  he  that  is  of  the  con-    Chap.  2 
trary  part  may  be  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to 
say  of  you. 
9       Exhort  servants  to  be  obedient  unto  their  own 

10  masters,  a7id  to  please  them  well  in  all  things ;  not 
answering  again ;  not  purloining,  but  shewing  all 
good  fidelity ;  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine 
of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things. 

11  For  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation 

12  hath  appeared  to  all  men,  teaching  us  that,  denying 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live 
soberly,   righteously,  and  godly,    in   this   present 

13  world;  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the 
glorious    appearing    of   the   great    God    and    our 

14  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;  who  gave  himself  for  us, 
that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and 
purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works. 

1 5  These   things  speak,  and   exhort,   and   rebuke  Relations 
3  with  all  authority.    Let  no  man  despise  thee.    Put  ch5s"ians 

them  in  mind  to  be  subject  to  principalities  and  and  with 
powers,  to  obey  magistrates,  to  be  ready  to  every  teachers. 

2  good  work,  to  speak  evil  of  no  man,  to  be  no 
brawlers,  but  gentle,  shewing  all  meekness  unto 

3  all  men.  For  we  ourselves  also  were  sometimes 
foolish,  disobedient,  deceived,  serving  divers  lusts 
and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and  envy,  hateful, 
and  hating  one  another. 

4  But  after  that  the  kindness  and  love  of  God  our 

5  Saviour  toward  man  appeared,  not  by  works  of 
righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  according 
to  his  mercy  he  saved  us,  by  the  washing  of 
regeneration,  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 


8o  TITUS 

Chap.  3     which  he  shed  on  us  abundantly  through  Jesus    6 
Christ  our  Saviour;    that    being  justified  by   his     7 
grace,  we  should  be  made  heirs  according  to  the 
hope  of  eternal  life.     This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and    8 
these  things  I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly,  that 
they  which  have  believed  in  God  might  be  careful 
to  maintain  good  works.     These  things  are  good 
and  profitable  unto  men. 

But  avoid  foolish  questions,  and  genealogies,  and    9 
contentions,  and  strivings  about  the  law ;  for  they 
are  unprofitable  and  vain.     A  man  that  is  an  here-  10 
tick  after  the  first  and  second  admonition  reject ; 
knowing  that  he  that  is  such  is  subverted,  and    11 
sinneth,  being  condemned  of  himself. 
Directions       When  I  shall  send  Artemas  unto  thee,  or  Ty-  12 
greetings,   chicus,  be  diligent  to  come  unto  me  to  Nicopolis  : 

for   I   have   determined   there   to  winter.      Bring  13 
Zenas  the  lawyer  and  Apollos   on   their  journey 
diligently,   that    nothing   be  wanting   unto   them. 
And  let  our's  also  learn  to  maintain  good  works  14 
for   necessary  uses,    that   they  be  not   unfruitful. 
All  that  are  with    me  salute  thee.      Greet  them  15 
that  love  us  in  the  faith.     Grace  be  with  you  all. 
Amen. 

It  was  written  to  Titus,  ordained  the  first  bishop 
of  the  church  of  the  Cretians,  from  Nicopolis 
of  Macedonia. 


THE   PASTORAL   EPISTLES 

I,  II  TIMOTHY  AND  TITUS 

REVISED   VERSION    WITH   ANNOTATIONS 


a 


THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE 

TO 

TIMOTHY 

Paul,  an  apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  according  to  the  1 
commandment  of  God  our  Saviour,  and  Christ  Jesus  our 

I.  The  Salutation,     i.  1,2. 

The  common  epistolary  form  of  the  time  was  that  which  James 
employs, '  James, ...  to  the  twelve  tribes  . .  . ,  greeting '  (J as.  i.  i), 
and  this  ordinary  form  was  used  by  the  church  at  Jerusalem  (Acts 
XV.  23).  But  in  Paul's  Epistles  there  is  always  a  significant 
salutation  in  which  his  personality  and  his  mission  find  expression. 
He  diff'ers  from  ordinary  letter-writers,  as  R.  L.  Stevenson,  for 
example,  does,  by  fresh  and  living  modes  of  address  in  place  of 
'  Dear  Sir'  and  'Yours  truly.'  In  eleven  of  the  Pauline  letters 
for  the  bare  'greeting'  Paul  writes  'grace  and  peace'  (cf.  Rev. 
i.4).  Here  and  in  2  Timothy  he  adds  'mercy'  (cf.  i.  13,  16). 
It  is  the  added  tenderness  in  addressing  the  best  beloved  cor- 
respondent ;  it  is  '  Yours  very  affectionately '  instead  of  '  Yours 
sincerely'  (cf  John  to  the  'elect  lady,'  2  John  3).  In  nine  out 
of  the  thirteen  letters  he  begins  by  stating  that  he  is  an  apostle, 
as  here,  because  his  apostolic  position  had  been  questioned. 

1.  The  phrase  according'  to  th«  commandment  is  quite  char- 
acteristic of  Paul  (cf.  Rom.  xvi.  26 ;  i  Cor.  vii.  6  ;  Titus  i.  3). 
But  the  title  Saviour,  applied  to  God,  is  one  of  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Pastorals  (i  Tim.  ii.  3,  iv.  10;  Titus  i.  3,  ii,  10,  iii.  4), 
though  Paul  quite  recognized  the  thought  elsewhere  (i  Cor. 
i.  21),  and  it  was  a  New  Testament  usage  (Luke  i.  47  ;  Jude  25) 
borrowed  from  the  Old  (in  the  Greek,  LXX,  Ps.  xxiv.  5,  Ixi.  7  ; 
Isa.  xii.  2  ;  Wisd.  of  Sol.  xvi.  7  ;  Baruch  iv.  32 ;  3  Mace.  vii.  i6j. 
But  observe  in  the  Pastorals  the  title  is  not  taken  from  Christ  to 
be  given  to  God,  but  it  is  given  to  Christ  because  he  is  God  : 
'our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ'  (Titus  ii.  14).  Grau 
sees  in  the  title  a  protest  against  the  Gnostic  dualism,  which  did 
not  allow  God  without  a  mediator  to  be  the  Saviour. 

The  beautiful  expression  Christ  .  .  .  our  hope,  which  was 

G    2 


84  I  TIMOTHY   1.  2,  3 

2  hope ;  unto  Timothy,  my  true  child  in  faith  :  Grace, 
mercy,  peace,  from  God  the  Father  and  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord. 

3  As  I  exhorted  thee  to  tarry  ^  at  Ephesus,  when  I  was 
going  into  Macedonia,  that  thou  mightest  charge  certain 

afterwards  used  by  Ignatius  {Magn.  ch.  11,  and  inscription  of 
Trail.),  is  best  explained  by  Col.  i.  27,  'Christ  in  you  the  hope 
of  glory.'  Christ  is  not  only  the  object  of  hope,  but  also  a  present 
and  dear  possession,  who  is  the  surety  of  our  hope  of  future 
blessing,  eternal  life  and  glory. 

2.  true  child  in  f  aitli :  the  *my'  and  'the'  are  not  in  the 
Greek  (cf.  i  Cor.  iv.  14-17  ;  Gal.  iv.  19).  Timothy  and  Titus 
(Titus  i.  4)  were  legitimate  (so  '  true  '  might  be  rendered)  children 
because,  spiritually,  Paul  had  begotten  them  in  the  region  of 
faith — not  in  works,  sacraments,  or  the  empty  trivialities  referred 
to  later.  The  particulars  of  the  new  birth  of  Timothy  are  covered 
by  the  vague  narrative  of  Acts  xvi.  1-3. 

For  Grace,  mercy,  peace,  cf.  Jer.  xvi.  5. 

from  Qod  the  Father  and  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  Christ 
is  thus  coupled  with  God  as  the  fount  of  blessing  in  all  Paul's 
Epistles  except  Colossians,  and  there  he  seems  to  be  omitted 
because  the  whole  Epistle  is  the  celebration  of  his  Divine  majesty 
and  glory. 

i.  3-20.  Paul  recalls  to  his  *  child '  the  saving  truth  of  the  gospel 
in  opposition  to  the  heterodoxy  with  which  he  had  to  contend  in 
Ephesus. 

3.  Note  the  anacoluthon  :  As  I  exhorted  has  nothing  to  com- 
plete the  comparison  in  the  original,  and  the  words  in  italics,  '  so 
do  I  now,'  are  only  inserted  by  the  translators.  This  eager 
breathlessness  of  a  writer  who  is  too  absorbed  in  the  matter  to 
remember  the  grammar  is  a  mark  of  Paul's  style  (cf.  Gal.  ii.  6). 
It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  the  '  as  I  exhorted '  is  taken  up 
by  the  *  I  exhort  therefore '  of  ii.  i  (von  Soden  in  Hand-Com- 
mentar,  p.  219).  This  stay  of  Paul  and  Timothy  in  Ephesus, 
broken  at  last  by  Paul's  departure  for  Macedonia,  cannot  be 
placed  (see  Introduction)  in  the  history  covered  by  the  Acts 
and  the  other  Epistles.  This  and  the  remaining  circumstantial 
details  of  our  three  Epistles  are  the  material,  only  too  slight, 
for  constructing  a  life  of  Paul  between  his  liberation  from  his 
first  imprisonment  and  his  death. 

^  The  word  used  here  for  'tarry,'  though  found  in  Acts  xviii.  i8, 
is  not  used  by  Paul  except  in  this  Epistle. 

We  must  carefully  note  these  unusual  words,  and  what  are  called 


I  TIMOTHY   1.4  85 

men  not  to  teach  a  different  doctrine \  neither  to  give  heed^  4 
to  fables  and  endless^  genealogies*,  the  which  minister 

Note  the  similarit}'  between  the  position  of  Timothy  as  the 
apostle's  agent  in  Ephesus  and  that  of  Titus  as  his  agent  in  Crete 
(Titus  i.  5). 

Timothy  was  left  in  Ephesus  to  restrain  certain  heretical 
teachers.  Perhaps  the  vague  *  certain  persons '  betokens  con- 
tempt— people  not  worth  mentioning  (von  Soden  in  Hand- 
Cotnmentar).  But  it  is  a  common  N.  T.  way  of  referring  to 
adversaries  (Gal.  i.  7,  ii.  12;  i  Cor.  iv.  18,  xv.  12  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  i  ; 
Jude  4).  Here,  how^cver,  it  may  mean  simply  '  certain  persons 
well  known  to  you,  whom  I  need  not  specify.' 

to  teach,  a  different  doctrine.  This  in  Greek  is  one  word: 
a  word  which  on  the  analogy  of  our  English  heterodox  should 
be  rendered  '  hetero-teach.'  The  word  is  only  found  here  and 
in  vi.  3  in  the  N.  T.  This  'different  doctrine'  is  one  which 
differs  from  the  sound  apostolic  teaching  (verse  10;  cf.  Gal.  i.  6; 
2  Cor.  xi.  4),  which  was  from  the  first  regarded  as  a  definite  and 
compact  body  of  truth  (see  Rom.  xvi.  17),  Tlie  nature  of  this 
hetero- teaching,  which  is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  Pastorals, 
is  delineated  in  verses  4-7. 

4.  fables,  in  Greek  'myths,'  is  a  word  used  once  more  in  the 
N.  T.,  2  Pet.  i.  16. 

The  crucial  question  is  this.  Are  these  myths  and  genealogies 
a  reference  to  the  Gnostic  doctrine  of  the  second  century,  with 
its  seons  and  emanations  filling  the  universe  with  intermediate 
beings  in  which  the  One  God  disappeared  ?  Is  the  '  Gnosis  falsely 
so  called'  (vi.  20)  Gnosticism?  Are  the  'antitheses'  (oppositions) 
those  of  Marcion  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century?  Or 
are  the  terms  of  Gnosticism  borrowed  from  our  letters?  Did 
Irenseus  and  Tertullian,  in  refuting  the  heresies  of  their  time, 
describe  them  in  terms  already  made  familiar  by  the  Pastoral 
letters?  Briefly,  these  expressions  in  their  entirety,  so  far  from 
being  the  product  of  second-century  Gnosticism,  cannot  even  be 

in  Greek  dVa^  Xiyofxfva,  \.  e.  words  which  occur  only  once  in  Greek 
literature,  because,  as  we  saw,  the  nature  and  frequency  of  words 
peculiar  to  these  Epistles  affect  to  some  extent  the  certitude  with 
which  we  can  regard  the  Epistles  as  genuinely  Pauline. 

^  '  to  teach  a  different  doctrine  '  :  a  word  peculiar  to  the  Pastorals. 

'  The  word  used  for  *  give  heed '  is  not  found  in  Paul's  Epistles 
except  here  and  in  iii.  S;  Titus  i.  14:  but  in  Acts  xx.  28  it  occurs 
in  a  speech  of  Paul. 

■''  The  word  used  for  'endless'  occurs  only  here  in  the  N.T. 

*  The  word  'genealogies'  occurs  only  here  and  in  Titus  iii.  g. 


86  I  TIMOTHY   1.  4 

questionings  \  rather  than  a  dispensation  of  God  which  is 

reconciled  with  it.  These  teachers,  as  Weiss  says,  instead  of 
professing  an  unusual  knowledge  of  God,  as  the  Gnostics  did, 
are  described  by  the  writer  in  Titus  i.  i6  thus:  'They  confess 
(rather  than  '  profess ')  that  ihey  know  God.'  It  is  a  concession 
to  be  turned  against  them,  not  a  vaunt  of  superior  knowledge. 

These  points  must  be  borne  in  mind  throughout:  (i)  The 
hetero-teachers  are  Judaistic,  and  their  teaching  turns  on  the 
law  (verse  7 ;  Titus  iii.  9).  This  leads  us  to  seek  for  them  rather 
among  the  Judaizers  whom  Paul  attacks  in  Galatians  and  Colos- 
sians  than  the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century,  who  did  not  base 
their  teaching  on  the  Jewish  law,  but  in  the  main  rejected 
Judaism.  The  genealogies  being  mentioned  with  fightings 
about  the  law  (Titus  iii.  9)  connects  the  heresy  with  Judaism 
as  decisively  as  it  disconnects  it  from  Gnosticism.  (2)  Dr.  Hort 
pointed  out  in  Judaistic  Christianity,  p.  135,  a  passage  in  Polybius 
(ix.  2.  i)  in  which  the  historian  combines  '  myths  and  genealogies,' 
referring  to  the  Greek  legends,  and  the  pedigree  and  birth  of 
heroes.  And  Philo  describes  the  primitive  history  of  the  Penta- 
teuch as  the  'Genealogicum'  {de  vita  Mos.  2,  §  8),  We  must 
therefore  look  for  these  Jewish  *  myths  and  legends '  in  those 
imaginary  stories  known  as  Haggadoth,  which  the  later  Judaism 
loved  to  construct  and  to  invest  with  fanciful  meanings.  The 
Book  of  Jubilees  is  an  illustration  of  the  legends  which  can  be 
spun  out  of  genealogies ;  and  a  work  once  attributed  to  Philo 
devotes  much  space  to  the  descendants  of  the  antediluvian  heroes. 

Dr.  Bernard  (Introduction  to  his  Pastoral  Epistles,  Ivi)  decides 
that  these  teachers  were  Essenes,  maintaining  that  all  the 
characteristics  mentioned  in  the  Pastorals,  with  the  exception  of 
that  in  the  verse  before  us,  tally  with  what  Josephus  and  Philo 
tell  us  of  that  sect.  We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  the  Essenes 
gave  special  attention  to  the  Haggadoth  or  legendary  literature  of 
Judaism.  On  the  other  hand,  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff  maintain 
that  what  is  said  here  '  only  agrees  with  the  Gnostic  doctrine  of 
aeons,  which  were  represented  as  cosmic  powers,  personified 
intermediate  beings  between  the  supernatural  God  and  the 
material  world,  proceeding  from  one  another,  and  therefore  essen 
tially  connected  with  one  another,  and  standing  in  a  relation 
of  dependence  one  upon  the  other.  With  this  not  only  the 
epithet  "fables,"  but  also  "  endless,"  agrees  excellently,  inasmuch 
as  these  aeons  represented  personified  ideas,  the  series  of  which 
could  be  spun  out  indefinitely,  and  concerning  which  all  sorts 
of  fabulous    statements    might    be    made.      This    expression    for 

^  The  word  used  for  '  questionings '  is  a  strengthened  form  of 
that  in  Titus  iii.  9,  and  occurs  only  here. 


I  TIMOTHY   1.  5  87 

in  faith  ;  so  do  I  now.     But  the  end  of  the  charge  is  love  5 

the  Gnostic  series  of  semi-divine  beings  is  found,  moreover,  in 
Irenaeus  and  Tertullian'  {Comment,  in  loc.  p.  89^ 

We  are  not  bound  with  Dr.  Bernard  to  identify  these  hetero- 
teachers  with  the  Essenes  or  their  principles,  nor  is  the  assertion 
of  Baur  and  his  school,  that  we  are  bound  to  identify  them  with 
the  Gnostics,  binding  upon  us.  Indeed,  if  this  were  an  orthodox 
polemic  against  the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century  it  would  be 
difficult  to  explain  the  relatively  mild  attack  made  on  the  false 
doctrine,  which  is  treated  as  vain  and  empty  rather  than  positively 
wicked.  The  anti-Gnostic  writers  of  the  second  century  speak 
in  very  different  terms  (Riggenbach,  Kurzgefasster  Commentar, 
in  loc).  But  the  question  must  be  always  before  the  reader 
of  the  Pastorals  whether  this  tempting  identification  with  the 
teachers  of  the  second  century  is,  in  conjunction  with  the  other 
un-Pauline  indications,  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  strong  arguments 
for  the  traditional  view  which  are  given  in  the  Introduction. 

If  we  knew  that  our  Epistles  were  forgeries  of  the  second 
century  we  might,  without  hesitation,  conclude  that  the  Gnostic 
teachers  tnust  be  referred  to,  though  the  references  are  not  quite 
satisfactory.  But  can  these  references,  not  quite  satisfactory,  be 
decisive  in  proving  that  the  Epistles  are  forgeries  of  the  second 
century? 

which  minister  questioning's.  There  is  a  qualitative 
meaning  in  the  '  which,'  and  we  might  render  it  'inasmuch  as  they 
minister  questionings.'  We  should  observe  that  the  objection 
taken  to  the  hetero-teaching  is  not  so  much  that  they  are  false 
(as  Gnostics  heresies  would  be),  but  that  they  are  idle  and 
frivolous,  out  of  relation  to  fact,  and  therefore  endless  material 
for  contention. 

a  dispensation  of  God  ...  in  faith.  The  word  '  dispensation ' 
is  used  by  Paul  in  two  senses,  (i)  Col.  i.  25  ;  i  Cor.  ix.  17 
(translated  'stewardship'),  a  commission  given  by  God  to  His 
servants  to  manage  His  household  on  earth.  (2)  Eph.  i.  10, 
iii.  9,  the  mode  in  which  God  conducts  His  plan  for  the  world. 
Aristides  in  the  Apology  (xv)  speaks  of  the  Incarnation,  as  the 
central  point  of  the  plan,  by  this  name — *  having  finished  his 
wonderful  dispensation,  Christ  tasted  death  through  the  cross  by 
free  will  according  to  the  great  dispensation.' 

It  must  be  in  the  first  sense  that  it  is  used  here,  if  there  is  to 
be  any  logical  contrast  to  the  'questionings.'  The  dispensation, 
economy,  or  stewardship  administered  in  faith  is  the  truth  of 
the  gospel  committed  to  the  apostles  in  contrast  to  the  insub- 
stantial speculations  of  the  Judaizers.  In  Titus  i.  7  (cf.  Luke  xvi. 
2),  'steward'  is  the  corresponding  concrete  noun. 

5.  the  chargfe.    The  dispensation  is  now  referred  to  under  the 


88  I  TIMOTHY   1.  6,  7 

out  of  a  pure  heart  and  a  good  conscience  and   faith 

6  unfeigned :    from  which   things    some    having  swerved* 

7  have  turned  aside'*  unto  vain  talking^;    desiring  to  be 
teachers  of  the  law,  though  they  understand  neither  what 

name  of  'the  charge'  (as  in  verse  3),  and  its  content  is  indicated 
by  the  end  for  which  it  exists,  viz.  love.  Wrong  doctrine  ends 
in  contention,  and  is  betrayed  thereby  (cf.  vi.  4  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  23  ; 
Titus  iii.  9).  The  end  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  is  love,  and 
love  is  therefore  the  hall-mark  of  the  pure  doctrine  (Rom.  xiii, 
10).  This  end  is  achieved,  like  a  flower,  from  a  threefold  root, 
viz.  a  pure  heart,  a  good  conscience,  and  faith  unfeigned.  We 
might  expect  Paul  to  say  that  the  pure  heart  resulted  from 
a  good  conscience,  and  a  good  conscience  from  unfeigned  faith. 
If  the  order  meant  that  the  pure  heart  leads  to  a  good  conscience 
and  that  to  an  unfeigned  faith,  the  thought  would  point  to  another 
authorship. 

6.  The  false  teachers  have  left  all  three — the  pure  heart  (vi.  5), 
the  good  conscience  (iv.  2),  and  unfeigned  faith  (2  Tim.  iii.  8). 

Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the  Pastorals  than  the  close 
connexion  between  a  good  conscience  and  faith  (i.  19,  iii.  9; 
2  Tim.  i.  3). 

'The  subtleties  of  the  Talmud,'  says  Dr.  Bernard,  'are  not 
worse  than  the  absurdities  of  speculation  to  be  found  in  so  great 
a  book  as  the  Smnma  Theologia  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  "Vain 
talking"  is  heresy  even  if  it  be  on  the  side  of  truth.' 

7.  teachers  of  the  law.  Cf.  Titus  i.  14.  According  to  Schmidt 
and  Holzendorff  this  is  applicable  to  the  earlier  Gnostics,  such  as 
the  Ophites  and  Saturnians.  It  is  certainly  simpler,  if  one  has 
no  theory  to  maintain,  to  think  of  Judaizers  such  as  so  constantly 
dogged  the  steps  and  injured  the  work  of  Paul. 

These  persons  neither  understand  the  things  they  said,  nor 
what  things  they  were,  about  which  they  made  their  strong 
assertions.  They  used  words  without  meaning,  and  spoke  of 
the  law  and  its  problems  without  understanding  either. 


*  '  some  having  swerved.'  This  word  in  the  original  occurs  in 
the  N.  T.  only  in  the  Pastorals,  and  in  reference  to  the  'certain,' 
viz.  the  hetero-teachers  (cf.  vi.   21  j    2  Tim.  ii,  18). 

^  'turned  aside.'  This  word,  though  used  in  Heb.  xii.  13,  does 
not  occur  in  Paul's  writings  except  in  the  Pastorals  (2  Tim.  iv.  4). 

^  'vain  talking':  one  word  in  the  Greek;  occurs  only  here  in 
the  Greek  Bible.  The  corresponding  concrete  noun  '  vain  talkers ' 
occurs  in  Titus  i.  10. 


I  TIMOTHY   1.  8-iT  89 

they  say,  nor  whereof  they  confidently  affirm  *.     But  we  8 
know  that  the  law  is  good,  if  a  man  use  it  lawfully  ^,  as  9 
knowing  this,  that  law  is  not  made  for  a  righteous  man, 
but  for  the  lawless  and   unruly  ^,  for  the  ungodly  and 
sinners,  for  the  unholy  and  profane  ^  for  murderers  of 
fathers  and  murderers  of  mothers'",  for  manslayers^,  for  10 
fornicators,  for  abusers  of  themselves  with  men,  for  men- 
stealers '',  for  liars,  for  false  swearers  ^,  and  if  there  be  any 
other  thing  contrary  to  the  sound  doctrine ;  according  to  1 1 

8.  But  we  know.  Note  this  peculiarly  Pauline  mode  of 
making  a  concession  (cf.  Rom.  ii.  2,  iii.  19,  viii.  28;  i  Cor.  viii.  i). 
These  three  verses  (8-1 1)  are  introduced  lest  he  might  seem  to 
disparage  the  law.  If  used  by  the  teacher  for  the  purpose  for 
which  law  exists,  viz.  not  for  quibbling  and  talk,  but  to  correct 
evil-doers,  it  is  good  (see  Rom.  vii.  12%  It  is  no  fault  of  the 
law  that  these  frivolous  talkers  can  find  only  myths  and  gene- 
alogies in  it  on  which  to  exercise  their  ingenuity,  requirements 
of  an  immoderate  asceticism,  or,  by  a  pen^erted  casuistry,  excuses 
for  indulgence.  See  Rom.  vii.  16.  Prof.  Stevens,  New  Testament 
Theology,  p.  368,  says:  'The  language  on  this  point  is  not  un- 
Pauline.  The  meaning  is  that  the  law  was  given  to  restrain  the 
lawless  and  disobedient ;  to  check  tendencies  which  are  not 
according  to  sound  teaching  and  the  glorious  gospel.  This 
passage  is  not  a  theological  argument,  but  a  piece  of  practical 
moral  instruction.' 

10.  if  there  be  any  other  thing:  a  Pauline  phrase.  Cf.  Rom. 
xiii.  9. 

sound  doctrine  :   or,  '  healthful  teaching.'     This  phrase  and 

^  'They  confidently  affirm.'  The  word  used  occurs  only  here 
and  at  Titus  iii.  8  in  the  Greek  Bible. 

^  'lawfully'  :   a  word  only  here  and  in  2  Tim.  ii.  5. 

^  '  unruly'  :   not  used  by  Paul,  except  here  and  in  Titus  i.  6,  10. 

*  '  unholy  and  profane  '  :  the  first  of  these  words  occurs  elsewhere  in 
the  N.  T.  only  at  2  Tim.  iii.  2,  the  second  not  outside  the  Pastorals. 

^  'smiters  of  fathers,  and  smiters  of  mothers'  (marg.) :  both 
words  occur  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

^  '  manslayers  '  :   the  word  only  here  in  the  Bible. 

'^  '  men-stealers ' :  the  word  only  here  in  the  Bible  (cf.  Exod.  xxi.  16  ; 
Deut.  xxiv.  7,  for  the  sin> 

^  'false  swearers':  the  word  not  found  again  in  the  N.T.  (the 
corresponding  verb  is  in  Matt.  v.  33). 


90  I  TIMOTHY   1.  n 

the  gospel  of  the  glory  of  the  blessed  ^  God,  which  was 
committed  to  my  trust. 

its  correlatives  are  peculiarly  significant  of  the  Pastorals  (cf.  2  Tim. 
iv.  3  ;  Titus  i.  9,  ii.  i  ;  '  sound  words,'  i  Tim.  vi.  3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  13  ;  the 
verb  with  faith,  2  Tim.  i.  13  ;  Titus  ii.  2  ;  '  sound  speech,'  Titus  ii. 
8).  And  the  metaphor  is  explained  by  the  comparison  of  false 
doctrine  to  a  gangrene  (2  Tim.  ii.  17).  To  understand  the  word 
one  must  avoid  the  associations  which  gather  round  our  usage  of 
the  phrase  *  sound  doctrine.'  Health  is  the  key-note.  The  Chris- 
tian society  is  a  body ;  the  truth  of  God,  coming  from  God  who  is 
life,  is  the  spring  of  health  in  the  body.  Perverted  truth,  false- 
hood, or  the  withholding  of  truth,  by  vain  talking,  produces 
disease  in  the  body  spiritual.  Two  illustrations  may  bring  home 
the  idea  :  Plato,  in  the  Republic  (iv.  18),  says:  'Virtue,  it  would 
seem,  is  as  it  were  health  and  beauty  and  well-being  of  soul,  and 
vice  disease  and  shame  and  debility.'  And  Philo  (dc  Abrali.  38), 
using  the  very  expression  employed  in  vi.  3,  speaks  of  '  the 
passions  and  diseases  prevailing  over  the  '  sound  words.' 

Doctrine  is  really  '  teaching,'  the  act  and  method  rather  than 
the  substance  of  teaching;  cf.  iv.  13,  v.  17. 

11.  according'  to  tlie  grospel  of  the  gflory :  the  connexion  of 
these  words  may  be  either  (i)  with  the  truth  of  the  paragraph, 
that  the  law  is  for  the  correction  of  evil-doers  ;  but  this  is  not 
very  satisfactory,  because  Paul's  gospel  did  not  specially  teach 
that  the  law  was  only  intended  for  evil-doers,  as  against  its  use 
for  idle  disputation  ;  and  the  peculiar  content  of  Paul's  gospel, 
that  the  law  could  not  save,  hardly  comes  into  question  here  ;  or, 
preferably,  (2)  with  the  phrase  'healthy  teaching,'  defining  that 
teaching  as  what  he  taught,  because  it  was  committed  to  him  by 
God,  viz.  the  gospel  which  consists  of  the  glory  of  the  blessed  God; 
(3)  with  Riggenbach,  it  may  be  joined  to  '  knowing  this  '  of  verse  9. 
which  was  coitimitted  to  my  trust :  or,  '  with  which  I  was 
entrusted':  Pauline.  Rom.  iii.  2;  i  Cor.  ix.  17;  Gal.  ii.  7; 
I  Thess.  ii.  4 ;  Titus  i.  3.  Schmidt  and  Holzcndorff  say  *  This 
verse  imitates  a  formula  which  repeatedly  occurs  in  the  Pauline 
Epistles  without  the  same  reason  for  it  in  the  context  here.' 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  could  be  more  appropriate  than  in 
a  passage  where  Paul  is  opposing  his  own  teaching  to  that  of 
hetero-teachers,  and  wishes  to  vouch  for  its  wholesomeness  by 
the  reminder  that  it  was  not  devised  by  himself,  but  entrusted  to 
him  personally  by  God,  the  fountain  of  health.  The  self-vindica- 
tion expands  itself  in  a  beautiful  doxology,  verses  12-17. 

*  'blessed'  :  applied  to  God  only  here  and  at  vi.  15  (cf.  fianapes 
$(oi,  in  Homer). 


I  TIMOTHY   1.   12-15  91 

I  thank  him^  that  enabled  me,  even  Christ  Jesus  our  12 
Lord,  for  that  he  counted  me  faithful,  appointing  me  to 
his  service;   though  I  was  before  a  blasphemer,  and  a  13 
persecutor '-,  and  injurious  :  howbeit  I  obtained  mercy, 
because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief;  and  the  grace  of  14 
our  Lord^  abounded  exceedingly*  with  faith  and  love 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.     Faithful  is  the  saying  ^  and  15 

12.  that  enabled  me.  This  favourite  phrase  of  Paul's  (Eph.  vi. 
10;  2  Tim.  ii.  i,  iv.  17;  Phil.  iv.  13)  is  the  Greek  word  which 
occurs  in  our  'dj'namics'  and  'dynamite.'  It  means  that  Christ 
gave  him  the  motive  force  for  the  ministry. 

faithful  occurs  eleven  times  in  this  short  Epistle. 
The  word  rendered  service  is  the  Greek  for  diaconate  (cf  Rom. 
xi.  13  ;  2  Cor.  v.  18,  vi.  3  ;  Col,  i.  23  ;  i  Cor.  iii.  5  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  6 ; 
Eph.  iii.  7).  After  the  Apostolic  Age,  when  the  word  was  specialized 
to  an  office  in  the  church,  it  could  hardly  have  been  used  in  this 
general  way  for  service  of  ^.wy  kind  ;  an  argument  for  the  apostolic 
origin  of  this  Epistle. 

13.  hlp-sphenier  .  .  .  persecutor  .  .  .  injurious.  The  words  in 
the  Greek  form  an  ascending  scale  of  sin  :  '  blasphemer,'  i.  e.  using 
bad  language  ;  '  persecutor,'  doing  bad  deeds ;  '  injurious'  is  an  in- 
adequate rendering  of  a  strong  word,  which  in  Rom.  i.  30  is 
rendered  '  insolent/  but  conveys  an  idea  of  violence  and  outrage. 

I  obtained  mercy.  Cf.  the  '  mercy '  in  the  salutation, 
verse  2.     Cf.  i  Cor.  vii.  25 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  i. 

because  I  did  it  ig-norantly,     Cf  Luke  xxiii.  34. 

in  unbelief.  Acts  xxiii.  i.  He  did  not  believe  Jesus  was 
Christ.  This  explains  where  the  power  of  the  Divine  grace  began 
to  work  on  him  AViesinger). 

14.  with  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  'Which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus'  is  a  qualifying  clause  which  probably  applies 
to  the  faith  as  well  as  to  the  love.  The  grace  abounded  along 
with  the  responsive  faith  in  Christ  (in  contrast  with  the  unbelief 

'  *  I  thank  him  '  :  a  phrase  in  the  Greek,  only  used  here  and  in 
2  Tim.  i.  3  by  Paul.     Intrcd.  p.  17. 

^  *  persecutor'  :  only  here  in  the  N.T. 

^  'our  Lord  '  :  without  the  addition  of  Jesus  Christ,  used  by  Paul 
only  here  and  in  2  Tim.  i.  S. 

*  '  abounded  exceedingly  '  :  a  word  occurring  nowhere  else  in  the 
Bible. 

^  '  faithful  is  the  saying '  :  a  formula  peculiar  to  the  Pastorals 
(i  Tim.  iv.  9,  iii.  i  ;   2  Tim.  ii.  11;  Titus  iii.  8). 


92  I  TIMOTHY   1.  i6 

worthy  of  all  acceptation  \  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into 
i6  the  world  to  save  sinners ;  of  whom  I  am  chief :  howbeit 

of  verse  i3\  and  with  the  love  which  centres  in  him  as  the  grace 
manifests  itself. 

15.  all  acceptation.  An  inscription  found  at  Epliesus  runs: — 
'  Titus  Aelius  Priscus  a  man  most  approved  and  worthy  of  all 
honour  and  acceptation.' 

Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world:  a  Johannine  expression 
(cf.  John  i.  g,  xii.  46,  xvi.  28).  The  expression  faithful  is  the 
saying"  seems  in  each  case  to  refer  to  things  which  were  commonly 
said  among  Christians. 

of  whom  I  am.  chief:  It'i.  'first.'  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff 
see  in  this  *  an  exaggerated  imitation  of  i  Cor.  xv.  9,  "  the  least 
of  the  apostles,"  which  in  the  hands  of  the  Pauline  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  had  already  passed  into  the  unsuitable 
form,  '•  the  least  of  the  saints,"  Eph.  iii.  8.'  But  may  we  not  mark 
in  the  three  passages  that  growth  in  humility  which  is  the  surest 
mark  of  inward  sanctity  ?  In  the  early  missionary  days  he  thought 
himself  '  the  least  of  the  apostles  ' ;  in  the  first  imprisonment  '  the 
least  of  the  saints,  i.e.  ordinary  believers';  now  at  the  end  he 
feels  that  he  is  *  the  chief  of  sinners.'  Nor  can  he  be  referring  to 
the  past  condition  recorded  in  verse  13.  It  is  definitely'  of  whom 
I  am  chief.'  Francis  of  Assisi  grew  in  this  amazing  humility  until 
his  less  spiritual  followers  were  irritated  by  what  to  them  seemed 
an  affectation.  Dr.  Carey,  the  great  missionary,  on  his  deathbed, 
was  quite  distressed  to  hear  his  friends  talking  of  him  :  'Do  not 
talk,'  he  cried,  'of  Dr.  Carey,  but  of  Dr.  Carey's  Saviour.' 

'As  he  writes  in  his  old  age  to  his  son  Timothy,  and  exalts  the 
gospel  ministry,  he  is  suddenly  carried  out  of  his  course  by  an 
undercurrent  of  feeling,  and  magnifies  the  office  of  Christ,  which 
is  to  save  sinners,  "  of  whom  I  am  chief."  This  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  utterances  in  the  history  of  religion,  whether  you 
consider  the  writer  or  its  date.  He  was  not  one  who  had  played 
the  fool  in  his  youth  before  God  and  man,  for  he  could  declare 
that  he  had  lived  in  good  conscience  all  his  days,  by  which  Paul 
intended  that  so  far  as  he  saw  the  light  he  had  followed  it,  and 
so  far  as  he  knew  righteousness  he  had  always  done  it.  His  perse- 
cution of  Christ  in  his  disciples  was  only  a  pledge  of  his  honesty, 
and  of  his  devotion  to  the  will  of  God.  It  was  this  man  of  natural 
nobility  and  selfless  character  who,  not  in  affected  humility,  but 
in  absolute  sincerity,  wrote  himself  down  as  worse  than  the  Philip- 
pian  jailor  and  the  evil  lives  of  Corinth.  Nor  was  Paul  a  recent 
convert,  still  ignorant  of  the  mind  of  Christ  and  young  in  grace, 

*  'acceptation  ' :  only  here  and  at  iv.^  9. 


I  TIMOTHY   1.  17,  i8 


93 


for  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in  me  as  chief 
might  Jesus  Christ  shew  forth  all  his  longsuffering,  for 
an  ensample  ^  of  them  which  should  hereafter  believe  on 
him  unto  eternal  life.  Now  unto  the  King  eternal,  17 
incorruptible,  invisible,  the  only  God,  be  honour  and 
glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

This  charge  I  commit  unto  thee,  my  child  Timothy,  18 

but  one  who  for  many  years  had  been  working  out  his  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  and  in  whom  the  readers  of  his  life  can 
trace  the  clear  and  convincing  likeness  of  his  Lord.  With  this 
career  behind  him,  so  stainless  both  as  a  Jew  and  as  a  Christian, 
the  most  honourable  of  Pharisees,  the  most  gracious  of  apostles, 
Paul  forgets  his  achievements  and  his  attainments,  and,  when  he 
instructs  his  son  Timothy,  remembers  only  his  sin.  As  we  catch 
this  glimpse  into  the  Apostle's  heart,  we  begin  to  understand  how 
Paul  was  able  to  enter  into  the  mystery  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  and 
to  realize  the  magnificence  of  the  Divine  grace.  According  to 
his  conception  of  sin  was  his  conception  of  salvation.' — The 
Doctrines  of  Grace,  John  Watson,  D.D,,  pp.  29,  30. 

One  cannot  help  raising  the  psychological  question :  What 
imitator  of  Paul,  writing  necessarily  to  honour  Paul,  would  have 
put  into  his  mouth  that  he  was  the  chief  of  sinners  ?  Certainly 
this  intense  humility  is  not  like  an  imitation  of  Paul,  but  it  is  like 
Paul  himself.  And  as  a  picture  of  Paul's  feeling  it  is  the  subtlest 
touch  of  reality  in  the  development  of  the  spiritual  life. 

16.  shew  forth,  &c.     Cf.  Eph.  ii.  7. 

17.  With  the  doxology  in  verse  17  cf.  i  Tim.  i.  17,  vi.  16; 
a  Tim.  iv.  i8. 

the  Kin^  eternal :  or,  *  the  King  of  the  ages  '  :  only  here  and 
in  Rev.  xv.  3;  =the  ruler  of  all  times,  Tobit  xiii.  6,  10.  The 
word  is  'aeons.'  'What  is  meant  by  seons  here,'  say  Schmidt 
and  Holzendorff,  '  is  not  the  Gnostic  aeons.'  No  ;  but  is  it  likely 
that  if  the  writer  had  the  Gnostic  doctrine  of  aeons  before  him 
he  would  describe  God  as  '  the  King  of  the  aeons'? 

the  only  God :  a  locus  classicus  for  Monotheism  ;  the  reading 
rightly  adopted  by  the  Revisers  is,  as  Bengel  said,  *  a  magnificent 
reading.' 

honour  and  glory:  only  in  Rev.  v.  13. 

18.  This  charge  refers  to  verse  5. 

I  commit  unto  thee.  Cf.  vi.  20;  2  Tim.  i.  12,  14,  for  what 
is  committed. 

'  '  ensample  ' :  the  unusual  word  employed  here  is  found  elsewhere 
only  at  2  Tim.  i.  13, 


94  I  TIMOTHY   1.  19,20 

according  to  the  prophecies  which  went  before  on  thee, 

19  that  by  them  thou  mayest  war  the  good  warfare ;  holding 
faith  and  a  good  conscience ;  which  some  having  thrust 

20  from   them  made  shipwreck '  concerning  the  faith  :    of 
whom  is  Hymenaeus  and  Alexander;  whom  I  delivered 

the  prophecies  which  went  before  on  thee  (*  foregoing '  is  the 
translation  in  Heb.  vii.  i8j  :  or,  'which  led  the  way  to  thee'  ;  cf. 
Acts  xiii.  2,  xvi.  2.  We  are  carried  into  the  inspired  assembly 
of  a  primitive  church,  where  the  spirit,  speaking  through  his 
prophets,  singled  out  individuals  for  a  speci.il  duty.  (Introd. 
p.  49.)  Even  Clement  of  Alexandria  still  speaks  of  ministers  being 
*  indicated  by  the  spirit.'  It  is  not  possible  to  decide  whether  the 
prophets  singled  out  Timothy  to  be  Paul's  companion,  as  Dr.  Hort 
conjectured  {Christian  Ecciesia,  p.  181.  The  comparison  is  made 
with  the  vision  that  led  Ananias  to  Paul  in  the  street  called 
Straight,  or  with  the  vision  that  led  the  way  to  Peter  in  the  house 
of  Simon  the  tanner  ,  or  only  marked  him  for  ordination  to  the 
ministry  of  an  evangelist  (cf  iv.  14). 

by  them  thou  mayest  war  the  good  warfare :  i.  e.  in  the 
strength  of  those  utterances  of  the  spirit  which  called  him  to  the 
service  he  may  carry  out  his  warfare  to  the  end  (2  Tim.  ii.  3). 

19.  concerning'  the  faith.  Dr.  Bernard  says  that  the  faith 
here  signifies  not  the  subjective  attitude  of  the  soul  to  God,  but 
the  objective  contents  of  the  Christian's  belief — the  Christian  Creed 
(cf.  Acts  vi.  7,  xiii.  8,  xvi.  5  ;  Gal.  i.  23,  iii.  23  ;  Phil.  i.  27% 

'Out  of  thirty-three  occurrences  of  faith  in  these  epistles,'  says 
Dr.  Bernard, '  the  objective  sense  seems  to  be  required  in  i  Tim. 
i.  19,  iv.  I,  6,  V.  8,  vi.  10,  21  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  8,  iv.  7  ;  Titus  i.  13.' 
This  large  proportion  of  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  later  sense  is 
of  course  an  argument  against  the  Pauline  authorship.  But  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  this  objective  sense  is  inevitable  in 
any  of  these  passages.  Holding  strictly  to  the  motion  oi faith  as 
the  psychological  condition  of  receiving  the,  gospel  we  can 
establish  a  good  sense  in  every  instance.  The  later  objective 
meaning  is  read  into  rather  than  out  q/"the  N.  T. 

20.  Hymensens.     See  2  Tim.  ii.  17. 

Alexander.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  this  is  the 
Alexander  who  was  put  forward  by  the  Jews  in  the  uproar  at 
Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  33).  Nor  can  we  be  sure  that  he  is  identical 
with  the  coppersmith,  apparently  at  Troas,  who  'did  much  evil' 
to  Paul  (2  Tim.  iv.  14).     If  he  is,  it  is  strange  that  in  the  earlier 

^  '  made  shipwreck ' :  only  here  in  a  metaphorical  sense  \2  Cor. 
xi.  25,  literal). 


I  TIMOTHY   1.  20  95 

unto  Satan,  that  they  might  be  taught  not  to  blas- 
pheme. 

letter  Paul  should  speak  of  excommunicating  him,  while  in  the 
later  he  seems  to  be  still  unexcommunicated,  and  Paul  hands  him 
over  to  the  punishment  of  God.  Von  Soden,  in  the  Hand-Coni- 
mcntar,  decisively  affirms  the  identity,  and  supposes  that  Paul's 
handing  over  to  Satan  was  equivalent  to  leaving  the  vengeance  to 
God  according  to  Rom.  xii.  19. 

delivered  unto  Satan.  The  obvious  commentary  on  this  is 
I  Cor.  V.  5.  But  if  the  Hand-Commentar  is  right,  we  must  not 
see  in  the  personal  action  of  Paul  a  formal  excommunication, 
which  at  Corinth  was  the  solemn  act  of  the  church,  but  rather 
a  spiritual  surrender  of  the  two  blasphemers  to  the  pains  and 
sorrows  typified  by  Satan,  that  b^'  suffering  they  might  learn 
wisdom  (cf.  Jcb.  ii.  6  .  In  this  way  of  treating  the  question,  the 
later  judgement  (2  Tim.  iv.  14)  would  mean  that  the  milder 
method  of  '  handing  over  to  Satan  '  had  in  Alexander's  case  failed, 
and  Paul  was  obliged  to  leave  him  to  the  mighty  hand  of  God. 
We  may  suppose  that  Alexander,  like  Hymenaeus  and  Philetus, 
had  fallen  into  the  heresy  that  the  Resurrection  was  past  (2  Tim. 
ii.  17). 

This  first  chapter  has  placed  very  vividly  the  divinely  com- 
missioned Apostle  over  against  the  empty  and  v^'rangling  teachers 
who  were  disturbing  the  church  at  Ephesus.  They  professed  to 
teach  the  law  of  Moses.  But  the  ethical  failure  of  the  result  was 
a  proof  that  their  method  was  wrong.  Paul  fully  admits  the  value 
of  the  law  for  convicting  of  sin  ;  and  in  verses  9,  10,  he  evidently 
has  the  Decalogue  in  view.  But  his  own  personal  experience 
shews,  and  it  is  here  introduced  for  the  purpose,  that  the  gospel 
of  the  glory  of  the  blessed  God  had  something  far  beyond  the 
law  to  reveal,  viz.  the  salvation  of  sinners  whom  the  law  has 
convicted.  Paul,  who  had,  comparatively  speaking,  kept  the  law 
(Phil.  iii.  5\  found  himself,  in  the  light  of  Christ,  the  first  of 
sinners.  Yet  he  had  been  forgiven,  to  encourage  all  sinners  to 
believe. 

It  is  this  commission,  '  the  gospel  of  the  glory,'  that  he  hands 
over  to  Timothy  for  use  in  conflict  with  the  erroneous  teachers. 
Timoth}',  his  true  son,  is  encouraged  to  maintain  the  good 
warfare  by  a  reference  to  the  inspired  utterances  which  originally, 
so  long  ago,  led  him  into  it,  when  Paul  found  him  at  Lystra. 
And  he  is  warned  by  the  example  of  Hymenaeus  and  Alexander, 
who  had  so  far  surrendered  the  truth  that  Paul  had  felt  bound  to 
deliver  them  unto  Satan,  i.  e.  to  repudiate  them  and  leave  them 
to  the  working  of  conscience,  and  the  recovery  of  its  saving 
testimony. 


96  I  TIMOTHY   2.  i,  2 

2  I  exhort  therefore,  first  of  all  \  that  supplications, 
prayers,   intercessions  ^,   thanksgivings,  be  made  for  all 

2  men ;  for  kings  and  all  that  are  in  high  place ;  that  we 
may  lead  a  tranquil  '  and  quiet  life  in  all  godliness^  and 

He   now   passes   on   to   the  church  regulations  which  will   aid 
Timothy  in  his  warfare. 

II.  Beg'tilatious  of  a  Cliristian  Church,     ii,  iii. 
Public  Worship,     ii.  1-7.     Prayers  for  all  men. 

1.  I  exhort.  Some  authorities  (D.  G.  Hil.  Ambrosiaster)  read 
the  imperative  'exhort,'  but  the  'I  wish'  of  verse  8  makes  the 
indicative  intrinsically  more  probable  (against  Zahn). 

supplications,  prayers,  intercessions.  The  three  words 
indicate  (i)  the  wants  on  the  part  of  man — imploratio;  (2)  the  in- 
tercourse with  God— oratio  (these  two  first  words  are  combined 
in  V.  5,  and  in  Eph.  vi.  18  ;  Phil.  iv.  6)  ;  (3)  petition  to 
a  superior— a  regular  word  in  Greek  for  the  approach  to  a  king. 
The  corresponding  verb,  '  maketh  intercession,'  is  in  Rom.  viii. 
27.  Intercession,  as  we  understand  the  word,  is  not  a  correct 
translation,  for  it  does  not  contain  any  idea  in  itself  of  prayer 
/or  others. 

thanksgiving's :  eucharists.  Augustine  by  an  anachronism 
supposes  that  the  supper  is  meant  (Ep.  cxlix.  16).  But  the 
Eucharist  was  so  early  identified  with  the  Supper  that  the  fact  of 
it  being  used  here  simply  as  thanksgiving  in  general  is  an  argu- 
ment for  the  apostolic  origin  of  the  letter. 

for  all  men:  an  improvement  even  on  Eph.  vi.  18,  'for  all 
saints.'  The  narrowing  tendency  of  church  institutions  and 
services  is  provided  against.  The  Christian  Church  is  the  priest 
pleading  for  the  world  to  which  it  belongs  (cf.  i  Pet.  ii.  5). 

2.  for  kings.  Baur  found  in  this  a  reason  for  bringing  the  date 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  age  of  the  Antonines,  when  two  emperors 
shared  the  throne.  He  might  as  well  have  placed  Mark  in  the 
same  period  on  the  ground  of  Mark  xiii.  9.  The  idea  is  quite 
Pauline,  Rom.  xiii.  i :  cf.  i  Pet.  ii.  13.  That  Nero  was  on  the 
throne  makes  the  exhortation  the  more  impressive.  We  are  to 
pray  for  rulers  that  are  past  praying  for ;  but  it  does  not  follow 

^  'first  of  all'  :  an  expression  only  here  in  the  N.  T.;  first,  i.  e.  in 
order  of  importance  rather  than  of  time. 

*  The  word  for  *  intercessions  '  only  in  Pastorals  (iv.  5). 

^  The  word  for  'tranquil,'  and  the  phrase  for  'lead  a  life,*  occur 
only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

*  'godliness.'  This  and  its  correlatives  do  not  occur  in  Paul's 
other  Epistles. 


I  TIMOTHY   2.  3,  4  97 

gravity  \     This  is  good  and  acceptable  ^  in  the  sight  of  3 
God  our  Saviour ;  who  willeth  that  all  men  should  be  4 

that  we  are  to  speak  of  a  Charles  II  or  George  IV  as  '  our 
most  rehgious  king.' 

a  tranquil  and  quiet  life  is  not  so  much  the  object  of 
prayer  as  the  object  of  the  exhortation  to  pray  and  give  thanks  for 
all  men,  and  especially  for  the  Government.  We  do  not  pray  for 
tranquillity,  which  might  be  selfish  ;  but  in  praying  for  men,  which 
is  unselfish,  we  become  tranquil  and  promote  their  tranquillity, 
while  in  praying  for  rulers  we  gain  the  external  conditions  of  law 
and  order. 

g'odliness  and  gravity.  Gravity  without  godliness  is  simply 
stiffness. 

godliness.  In  the  Pastorals  the  noun  occurs  eleven  times, 
the  verb  once,  and  the  adverb  twice.  It  is  a  common  Greek  word, 
and  not  infrequent  in  the  N.  T.  (four  times  in  2  Peter,  twice  in  Acts  ; 
cf.  the  adjective,  Acts  x.  2,  7,  xxii.  12  (T.  R.)  >  2  Pet.  ii.  9).  Strange 
to  say,  Paul  uses  the  opposite  'ungodly'  and  'ungodliness'  in 
Romans.  But  why  he  never  uses  the  familiar  word  for  piety  until 
the  Pastorals  baffles  us.  In  the  fourth  book  of  the  Sibylline 
Oracles  (80  a.d.)  this  group  of  words  is  often  used  for  the  elect. 
The  only  explanation  is  that  a  writer  sometimes  gets  a  few  catch 
words,  and  employs  them  for  a  year  or  two  ;  and  then  replaces 
them,  from  weariness  or  other  causes,  by  others.  Still  the  pheno- 
menon must  be  allowed  its  due  weight  as  an  argument  against 
the  Pastorals  being  from  the  pen  of  Paul. 

3.  TMs  is  gfood:  viz.  the  praying  for  all  men,  and  especially 
for  rulers.  The  reason  for  such  prayers  is  that  the  object  is 
acceptable  to  God  the  Saviour  of  men. 

God  our  Saviour :  i.  i  ;  Titus  i.  3. 

4.  wlio  willetli  that  all  men  should  he  saved.  Cf  Rom.  xi. 
32, '  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all,'  and  i  Tim.  iv.  10.  Calvin, 
in  order  to  escape  the  force  of  this  truth,  would  interpret  all  as 
men  of  all  kinds.  This  is  the  way  in  which  a  theory  discolours 
truth  ;  an  equally  striking  example,  however,  of  the  same  fact  is 
found  in  the  dogmatic  use  which  universalism  makes  of  this  text. 
The  will  of  God  does  not  override  the  will  of  man.  In  making 
free  wills  He  sets  over  against  Himself  personalities  that  act  as 
a  limit  on  His  own  freedom,  because  it  is  a  greater  enrichment  of 
the  Divine  nature  to  win  one  voluntary  and  whole-hearted  human 
soul  than  it  is  an  infringement  of  it  to  have  some  souls  that  resist 
His  grace.     All  that  is  said  in  this  passage  is  that  God's  constant 

^  The  word  for  'gravity'  is  only  in  the  Pastorals  (i  Tim.  iii.  4; 
Titus  ii,  7). 

*  *  acceptable  '  :  a  word  peculiar  to  the  Pastorals  (v.  4). 

H 


98  I  TIMOTHY  2.  5,  6 

5  saved,  and  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  ^     For 
there  is  one  God,  one  mediator  also  between  God  and 

6  men,  himself  man,   Christ  Jesus,  who   gave   himself  a 

will  is  to  have  the  heart  and  the  loyalty  of  all  men  ;  and  His 
salvation  applies  equally  to  all  by  the  very  nature  of  the  Incarna- 
tion (Titus  ii.  II  :  cf.  Matt.  v.  45). 

the  truth.  Cf.  iii.  15 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  15. 
5.  For  one  is  God,  one  is  mediator  also  between  Ood  and  men, 
a  man,  Christ  Jesus:  this  is  the  most  literal  rendering  of  these 
concentrated  words.  The  unity  of  God  is  asserted  to  shew  that 
there  is  only  one  God  of  all  men  (cf.  Rom.  iii.  30,  x,  12  ;  i  Cor. 
viii.  6 ;  Eph.  iv.  6).  The  unity  of  the  mediator  is  asserted  to 
shew  that  there  can  be  no  other  way  to  God  fjohn  xiv.  6),  but 
also  that  this  is  a  way  for  all.  He  is  described  as  Man  (the 
second  Adam)  generically ;  but  just  as  he  can  only  be  a  mediator 
for  men  because  he  is  a  man  (cf.  Rom.  v.  15 ;  i  Cor.  xv.  21),  so 
he  can  only  be  a  mediator  for  God  because  he  is  God.  When 
this  Epistle  was  written,  and  docetic  heresies  were  in  sight,  it 
was  more  important  to  emphasize  that  Christ  was  man  than  that 
he  was  God  (cf.  iii.  16).    *  By  being  man  he  mediated '  (Theodoret). 

one  mediator.  By  Paul  the  word  is  only  elsewhere  used 
of  Moses  (Gal.  iii.  19,  as  in  the  Asstimptio  Moysis,  i.  14,  iii.  12,  and 
in  Philo).  But  in  Hebrews  '  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant  * 
occurs,  viii.  6,  ix.  15,  xii.  24.  It  is  quite  likely  that  Paul  had  his 
eye  on  his  own  words  used  long  before  in  Galatians,  and  con- 
trasted with  Moses  the  mediator  between  Jews  and  God — Christ 
who  had  become  man  to  be  the  mediator  between  man,  as  such, 
and  God. 

G.  who  gfave  himself  a  ransom  for  all.  For  'gave  himself 
cf.  Gal.  i.  4,  ii.  20 ;  Eph.  v.  2,  25  ;  Rom.  viii.  32 ;  and  the  striking 
illustration  of  the  phrase  in  i  Mace.  vi.  44  (4  Mace.  vi.  29): 
Eleazar,  who  threw  himself  on  the  enemy  and  perished  under  the 
elephant  that  he  slew,  '  gave  himself  to  deliver  his  people  and  to 
get  him  an  everlasting  name.'  The  stress  in  this  passage  is  of 
course  laid  on  the  universality  of  the  Atonement,  that  it  was  for 
all  he  gave  himself.  We  may  hardly  therefore  digress  to  discuss 
what  is  meant  by  the  ransom  in  Matt.  xx.  28 ;  Mark  x.  45.  But 
one  word  may  be  said.  Christ  says  that  he  gave  his  life  as 
a  ransom  in  place  of  many  ;  Paul  interprets  it  as  giving  himself  as 
a  substitutionary  ransom  (that  is  the  force  of  the  peculiar  word 
used  here)  on  hehalf  of  all.  The  ransom  cannot  be  conceived  as 
paid  to  any  person,  least  of  all  to  God.     The  language  moves  in 

^  'come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ' :  a  phrase  peculiar  to  the 
Pastorals  (2  Tim.  ii.  25,  iii.  7  :  cf.  Titus  i.  i  and  i  Tim.  iv.  3). 


I  TIMOTHY  2.  7  99 

ransom '  for  all ;    the  testimony  to  be  home  in  its  own 
times  "^ ;   whereunto  I  was  appointed  a  preacher  '  and  an  7 
apostle  (I  speak  the  truth,  I  lie  not),  a  teacher  of  the 
Gentiles  in  faith  and  truth. 

a  region  of  metaphor.  Death  and  sin  are  the  personification  to 
which  the  ransom  is  paid  ;  death  and  sin  therefore  are  the  tyrants 
from  which  'many'  are  deHvered.  The  price  paid  by  our  Lord 
was  the  submission  of  his  life  to  death  and  of  himself  to  the 
tyranny  of  sin  — not  of  course  in  yielding  to  sin,  but  in  bearing  the 
outrageous  injuries  of  sin  in  his  own  person.  This  was  '  on  behalf 
of  all,'  the  force  of  the  preposition  uniformly  employed  in  the  N.  T. 
in  this  connexion.  But  in  the  nature  of  the  case  it  can  only  be 
'  in  the  place  of  those  who  by  faith  in  him  occupy  the  position 
which  he  has  bought  for  them.  By  the  death  of  Christ,  therefore, 
the  salvability  of  the  w^orld,  and  the  salvation  of  all  who  believe, 
are  secured. 

the  testimony  to  be  borne  in  its  own  times.  That  testimony 
is  the  whole  content  of  verses  4-6.  It  could  be  borne  only  when 
the  fullness  of  time  had  come,  and  the  Incarnation  had  presented 
a  mediator  for  all  men.     For  'testimony'  see  2  Tim.  i.  8. 

7.  whereunto  I  was  appointed  a  preacher.  The  '  I '  is 
emphatic  (repeated  in  2  Tim.  i.  11). 

I  lie  not.  The  solemn  certainty  of  being  commissioned  for  this 
testimony  (cf.  Rom,  ix.  i),  and  especially  of  being  in  a  peculiar 
sense  the  teacher  of  the  Gentiles  (Rom.  xi.  13  and  Gal.  ii.  7-9), 
is  the  occasion  of  this  earnest  assurance  that  he  is  telling  the  truth. 

in  faith  and  truth :  a  combination  only  found  here.  Dr.  Ber- 
nard's determination  to  make  faith  objective  here  leads  him  to 
make  truth  also  objective,  comparing  verse  4.  But  this  strikes  all 
the  pathos  and  beauty  out  of  the  passage.  The  whole  argument 
of  verses  1-7  is  that  prayer  is  to  be  universal.  He  supports  that 
contention  by  (i)  the  unity  of  God,  (2)  the  unity  of  the  Mediator, 
(3)  the  universality  of  the  Atonement.  And  then  in  an  exquisite 
and  human  way,  very  characteristic  of  Paul,  he  brings  in  his  own 
human  equation  that  he  was  himself,  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews  as 
he  was,  called  to  be  the  teacher  of  the  nations,  the  apostle  of 
universalism,  and  he  adds  *  in  faith  and  truth '  as  we  say  '  verily 

^  The  word  for  '  ransom  '  occurs  only  here  :  cf.  Titus  ii.  14 ;  Matt. 
XX.  28  ;    I  Pet.  i.  i8,  19. 

'  The  phrase  'its  own  times'  only  in  the  Pastorals  (vi.  15  ;  Titus 
i.  3).     But  in  the  singular  Paul  uses  it  in  Gal.  vi.  9. 

'  The  word  rendered  '  preacher  '  is  *  herald,'  and  is  only  used  by 
Paul  here  and  in  2  Tim.  i.  11.  2  Pet.  ii.  5  applies  it  to  Noah.  Paul 
uses  the  verb  in  Rom.  x.  15. 

H   2 


loo  I  TIMOTHY  2.  8,  9 

8  I  desire  therefore  that  the  men  pray  in  ever}'  place, 

9  lifting  up  holy  hands,  without  wrath  and  disputing.     In 
like  manner,  that  women  adorn  themselves  in  modest 

and  truly'  when  we  wish  to  dwell  with  emphasis  on  a  fact  which 
may  easily  be  overlooked  ;  the  faith  is  the  spirit,  and  the  truth 
is  the  material,  in  which  he  carries  out  his  apostolic  mission. 

8-15.     The  part  of  women  in  public  worship. 

8.  I  desire  therefore  that  the  men  pray  in  every  place :  i.  e. 

the  men  as  opposed  to  the  women,  implying  that  all  the  men  in 
the  congregation  were  desired  to  pray  aloud.  The  time  of  litur- 
gies and  priests  and  formal  reading  of  prayers  was  not  yet.  And 
this  rule  applies  to  every  place  where  prayer  was  made.  No 
assembly,  however  stately,  is  exempted. 

lifting"  up  holy  hands :  the  primitive  Christian,  as  the  Jewish 
(cf.  I  Kings  viii.  22  ;  Neh.  viii.  6  ;  Ps.  cxli.  2,  clxiii.  6  ;  Lam.  iii.  41, 
&c.),  form  of  prayer.  See  J  as.  iv.  8  for  the  purity,  and  Luke  xxiv. 
50  for  the  use,  of  the  hands.  In  the  pictures  of  the  catacombs  men 
praying  are  represented  on  their  feet  with  outstretched  hands. 
Unless  the  hands  are  holy  the  prayer  cannot  avail.  Holiness  is 
not  here  the  mere  equivalent  of  purity,  but  implies  that  the  praying 
hands  must  be  consecrated  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

without  wrath  and  disputing.  It  is  Christ's  teaching  that 
our  prayers  are  useless  if  we  are  not  in  charity  with  our  brothers. 
And  to  introduce  disputes  into  prayer  is  to  pray  at  one  another 
instead  of  to  God. 

9.  In  like  manner,  that  women,  &c.  It  is  possible  to  see  in 
these  words  a  permission  to  women  to  pray,  certain  conditions  of 
decency  being  secured  (cf  i  Cor.  xi.  5,  13;.  So  Riggenbach, 
K.  G.  Commeiitar,  who  supplies  '  I  desire  that  women  pray.' 
And  it  is  an  argument  for  this  view  that,  formally,  the  contrast 
between  the  wish  for  the  men  to  pray  and  the  women  to  dress 
modestly  gives  to  the  passage  a  touch  of  satire.  We  are  tempted 
to  disregard  the  formal  wording  to  find  the  substance  of  the 
passage  in  a  thought  of  this  kind  :  'I  wish  men  to  pray  in  public, 
all  of  them  everywhere  ;  but  I  wish  women,  if  they  pray  in  public, 
to  be  very  careful  to  dress  simply'  (cf.  i  Pet.  iii.  3-6).  But  the 
more  ordinary  view  is  more  like!}',  that  as  Paul  forbids  the  woman 
to  teach  in  public,  and  to  usurp  authority  over  a  man,  so  he  im- 
plicitly forbids  her  to  pray  in  public,  and  hints  that  the  woman's 
piety  is  better  shewn  in  deeds  than  in  words.  We  could  have 
wished  that  Paul's  view  had  been  different ;  but  we  must  not 
wrest  his  language  to  gratify  our  wish. 

In  like  manner :  a  very  favourite  idiom  in  the  Pastorals  (iii. 
8,  ir,  v,  25  ;  Titus  ii.  6),  but  also  Rom.  viii.  26  and  i  Cor.  xi.  25. 


I  TIMOTHY  2.  10-12  loi 

apparel  \  with  shamefastness  ^  and  sobriety ;    not  with 
braided  hair,  and  gold  or  pearls  or  costly  raiment ;  but  lo 
(which  becometh  women  professing  godliness  ^)  through 
good  works.     Let  a  woman  learn  in  quietness  with  all  n 
subjection.     But  I  permit  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  12 

with  shamefastness  a.nd  sobriety.  The  first  of  these  words 
means  that  modesty  which  disHkes  what  is  unseemly,  and  bases 
respect  for  others  on  self-respect,  Wycliffe  has  the  credit  of  finding 
the  English  word  for  the  original.  The  word  rendered  *  sobriety' 
is  another  of  the  idiosyncracies  of  the  Pastorals.  It  and  its  corre- 
latives occur  here  and  in  ii.  15,  iii.  2;  2  Tim.  i.  7;  and  Titus  i.  8, 
ii.  2,  4,  5,  6,  12.  It  was  in  Greek  ethics  one  of  the  four  cardinal 
virtues  (temperance  (sobriety),  wisdom,  justice,  courage).  It 
signifies  mastery  over  appetite.  In  the  present  passage  it  would 
mean  control  over  a  ieminine  tendency  to  self-display,  coquettish- 
ness,  and  amativeness. 

10.  The  adornment  is  to  be  through  good  works  :  not  the  good 
works  themselves,  which  could  not  be  brought  into  the  assembly, 
but  the  habits,  virtues,  and  perhaps  expression  and  demeanour, 
which  are  the  result  of  being  occupied  in  good  works ;  that 
beauty,  chastened,  spiritual,  and  often  pathetic,  which  maj'be  seen 
in  good  women  whose  lives  are  given  up  to  the  service  of  others. 

The  stress  laid  on  good  works  in  the  Pastorals  might  seem  un- 
Pauline,  but  may  be  Paul's  own  corrective  of  his  former  disparage- 
ment of  them.  See  Titus  i.  16  ;  i  Tim.  v.  10  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  21,  iii.  17; 
Titus  iii.  i.  They  are  not  here,  any  more  than  in  Romans,  the 
foundation  of  salvation  (ii.  Tim.  i.  9 ;  Titus  iii.  5).  But  Paul  fully 
recognizes  the  complementary  truth  which  is  urged  by  James. 
With  another  adjective,  which  means  'beautiful,'  works  are 
mentioned  eleven  other  times  in  these  letters  (i  Tim.  iii.  i,  v.  25, 
vi.  18  ;  Titus  ii.  7,  8,  14,  &c.).  The  beauty  of  goodness  sounds 
Greek  ;  but  in  Christianity  it  becomes  the  beauty  of  holiness. 

11.  Let  a  woman  learn  in  quietness.  This  is  quite  Pauline  : 
cf.  I  Cor.  xiv.  34,  35.  For  the  '  quietness,'  not  silence,  see  i  Pet. 
iii.  4  (also  ii.  2,  and  ii.  Thess.  iii.  12). 

with  all  subjection:  i.  e.  not  only  to  their  husbands  (Titus  ii. 
5  ;  Eph.  v.  22-24)  but  also  to  the  community,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  unruly  (Tit.  i.  6-10). 

12.  to  teach:  ('speak'  in  i  Cor.  xiv.  34).  In  Corinthians  the 
woman  must  keep  silence  because  the  law  required   it.      Here 

^  'apparel.'     The  word  only  found  here  in  the  N.  T. 
'  '  shamefastness  '  :  a  word  only  used  here  in  the  N.  T. 
'  '  godliness,'  a  variation  on  the  word  used  in  verbC  2,  is  found 
only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


102  I  TIMOTHY  2.   13-15 

13  have  dominion  over  a  man  \  but  to  be  in  quietness.     For 

14  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve;  and  Adam  was  not 
beguiled,  but  the  woman  being  beguiled  hath  fallen  into 

15  transgression :     but    she    shall    be    saved    through    the 

Paul  is  represented  as  forbidding  it  himself.  Von  Soden,  in  the 
Hatid-Commentar ,  sees  in  this  the  mark  of  a  post-apostolic  writer, 
glorifying  the  authority  of  an  apostle  !  The  teaching  forbidden  to 
women  is  only  that  in  the  pubUc  assembly  ;  other  teaching  is 
permitted  (cf  2  Tim.  iii.  14  ;  Titus  ii.  3;  Acts  xviii.  26,  xxi.  9). 

This  subordination  of  woman  is  based  on  two  facts  :  (i  Adam 
was  formed  before  Eve,  see  i  Cor.  xi,  9,  (2)  Eve  tempted  Adam  : 
'  More  easily  deceived,  she  more  easily  deceives/  says  Bengel 
(cf.  2  Cor.  xi.  3).  Adam  was  not  deceived,  but,  Milton  would 
have  us  believe,  deliberately  sinned  that  he  might  share  his  wife's 
punishment.  Thus  Eve  was  a  dupe  ;  Adam  was  chivalrous  in  his 
fall.  This  is  how  men  interpret  the  facts  of  life.  It  was  this  place 
assigned  to  woman  in  the  stories  of  Creation  and  the  Fall  which 
led  the  Jews  to  despise  women,  and  the  Rabbis  to  regard  it  as 
a  disgrace  to  be  seen  talking  with  them.  And  the  same  degrada- 
tion survives  in  the  monkish  ideals  : 

*  Femina  corpus  opes  animam  vim  lumina  vocem 
Polluit  annihilat  necat  eripit  orbat  acerbat' — 

two  bitter  verses  which  may  be  translated,  *  Woman  pollutes 
our  body,  annihilates  our  wealth,  kills  our  soul,  takes  our  strength, 
blinds  our  eyes,  and  makes  our  voice  harsh.' 

Happily  Scripture  as  a  whole,  and  even  Paul  in  other  passages, 
puts  woman  in  a  very  different  place  ;  and  our  Lord  has  raised 
her  to  a  dignity  no  asceticism  can  tarnish,  and  no  prejudice  can 
ultimately  obscure.  Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  personal 
element  in  Paul.  If  he  had  ever  been  married,  he  had  no  wife  as 
a  companion  and  friend  ;  and  in  hardly  any  great  man  does  woman 
seem  to  have  had  so  small  a  part.  To  use  him  as  an  argument  for 
the  depreciation  or  suppression  of  women  is  to  seize  on  his 
infirmities  and  limitations  as  a  man,  and  to  make  them  points 
in  his  authority  as  an  apostle.  As  it  could  be  no  genuine  reason 
for  keeping  woman  in  subjection,  even  if  Eve  was  created  after 
Adam,  and  if  she  was  the  cause  of  his  fall,  so  it  can  be  no  decisive 
prohibition  of  her  speaking  and  teaching,  that  Paul,  from  special 
circumstances,  or  from  a  certain  interpretation  of  the  law,  which 
he  did  not  in  other  respects  allow  to  be  binding,  was  led  to 
prohibit  her  speaking  and  teaching  in  the  churches  of  his 
time.     The  question  after  all  must  be,  not,   Does  Paul  prohibit 

^  *  to  have  dominion  over  a  man  ' :  a  word  is  used  here  which  is  not 
found  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


I  TIMOTHY   3.  I  103 

childbearing  \  if  they  continue  in  faith  and  love  and 
sanctification  with  sobriety. 

Faithful  is  the  saying,  If  a  man  seeketh  ^  the  office  of  3 

women  from  teaching?  but  Does  the  Spirit  of  God  use  them  as 
teachers  ? 

15.  Yet  Paul  adds,  thinking  of  the  curse  in  Gen.  iii.  16,  that  the 
woman  'shall  be  saved  through  her  time  of  peculiar  trial  and 
labour,  if  they,  viz.  women  generally,  remain  in  faith  and  love  and 
sanctification  with  sobriety.'  Riggenbach  regards  the  child-bearing 
as  the  means  of  woman's  salvation,  since  it  is  her  God-appointed 
function  ;  yet  it  is  not  through  child-bearing  absolutely  that  her 
salvation  is  secured,  but  through  child-bearing  under  a  certain 
condition,  viz.  that  of  abiding  in  faith  and  love  and  sanctification. 
But  in  that  case  the  child-bearing  is  not  the  means  of  salvation  at 
all ;  and  that  it  is  not,  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  childless  women 
can  also  be  saved.  The  Hand-Cotnmentar  adopts  the  curious  view 
that  the  subject  of  shall  be  saved  is  Eve,  and  refers  to  the  promise 
in  Gen.  iii.  15,  'she  shall  be  saved  through  her  child-bearing,*  viz. 
by  bearing  Christ  the  Saviour.  Then  the  plural  is  used  because 
women  are  included  in  their  mother  Eve,  as  men  are  included  in 
Adam  (Rom.  v.  15).  'This  interpretation,'  says  Dr.  Bernard, 'must 
be  counted  among  those  pious  and  ingenious  flights  of  fancy  which 
so  often  mislead  the  commentator.'  The  '  through,'  therefore,  cannot 
be  understood  as  the  means,  but  only  as  the  circumstances,  in  the 
midst  of  which  salvation  shall  be  wrought  out  for  women,  if  they 
abide  in  'faith  and  love  and  sanctification*:  cf.  iv.  12,  vi.  11; 
2  Tim.  ii.  23,  iii.  10;  Titus  ii.  2. 

Schmidt  and  Holzendorff  see  in  'this  recommendation  of 
marriage*  (which  does  not  agree  with  i  Cor.  vii.)  an  opposition 
to  the  ascetic  rejection  of  it  by  the  false  teachers  (cf.  iv.  3).  But 
it  is  as  difficult  to  find  in  this  verse  a  '  recommendation  of 
marriage '  as  it  is  to  follow  these  commentators  in  their  unquestion- 
ing identification  of  the  hetero-teachers  with  the  second-century 
Gnostics. 

The  qualifications  of  (i)  Bishops  1-7,  (2)  Deacons  8-13,  and  (3) 
Deaconesses, verse  11,  iviih  ihe  purpose  0/ all  the  foregoing  instructions, 
vis.  that  Timothy  might  know  how  to  behave  in  the  house  of  God ; 
concluding  with  a  verse  of  an  early  Christian  hymn,  14-16. 

1.  Faithful  is  the  sayingr  (see  on  i.  15,  iv.  9 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  11 ; 

^  The  word  for  '  childbearing '  only  here  j  the  corresponding 
verb,  V.  14. 

^  '  seeketh.*  The  word  used  is  only  found  in  i  Timothy  among 
the  writings  of  Paul. 


I04  I  TIMOTHY  3.  2 

2  a  bishop,  he  desireth  a  good  work.     The  bishop  therefore 

Titus  iii.  8).     The  Western  reading  until  the  time  of  Jerome  was, 

*  It  is  a  saying  of  men.'  The  Hattd-Contnteyitnr,  following  Chry- 
sostom,  treats  the  words  as  a  conclusion  to  what  had  been  said  of 
the  promise  to  woman  in  child-bearing.  But  in  spite  of  the  want 
of  '  that,'  as  a  conjunction  with  what  follows,  most  interpreters 
consider  that  the  connexion  is  this  :  '  Faithful  is  the  saj'ing'  (which 
is  frequently  heard  in  the  church),  or  'the  saying  is  current 
among  men,'  that  'if  a  man  seeks  an  office  of  oversight  he 
desires  a  good  work.'  If  our  letter  is  Pauline  the  word 
episcope  cannot  yet  have  the  specific  meaning  of  bishopric,  but 
still  has  the  general  sense  of  oversight,  as  in  Acts  i.  20.  Com- 
mentators like  Dr.  Bernard  do  not  seem  to  notice  that  in  assuming 
episcopiis  to  be  equivalent  to  the  '  bishop '  of  the  second  century, 
they  move  the  composition  of  this  letter  into  that  century.  In 
the  lifetime  of  Paul  episcopus  and  presbyter  were  interchangeable 
terms  (Acts  xx.  17,  28):  and  so  it  is  in  the  Pastorals,  for  it 
is  quite  arbitrary  to  see  in  Titus  i.  7  the  beginning  of  a  distinc- 
tion between  the  episcopus  there  mentioned  and  the  elders  of 
verse  5.  In  the  letters  of  Ignatius,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century,  the  bishop  is  the  centre  of  the  unity  of  the  congrega- 
tion, the  president  of  the  court  of  elders.  But  it  is  among 
the  arguments  for  placing  the  Pastorals  in  the  first  century, 
and  regarding  them  as  Pauline,  that  there  is  no  trace  of  this 
development  in  them.  By  translating  the  words  episcope  and 
episcopus  as  the  margin  does,  instead  of  reading  into  them  the 
later  meaning  of  episcopate  and  bishop,  we  get  at  the  right 
historical  situation. 

As  Prof.  Ramsay  says  (Paw/ /A^  Traveller,  p.  122),  the  expression 

*  seeketh '  implies  that  members  of  the  church  already  stood  for 
the  office  of  elder  :  and  the  object  of  the  verse  is  to  encourage 
them  to  stand.  In  a  true  church  of  Christ  there  is  no  earthly 
inducement  to  seek  office  :  it  is  not  the  way  of  gain  (verse  3),  nor 
yet  of  worldly  distinction.  The  church  has  gone  far  from  Christ 
when  men  seek  office  in  it  as  a  distinction  and  a  means  of  living. 
This  gentle  encouragement  therefore  to  undertake  the  thankless 
and  difficult  task  of  directing  a  church  (i.  Pet.  v.  2,  ii.  25),  and  the 
cheerful  assurance  that  it  is,  in  spite  of  its  humiliations  and  sorrows, 
*a  beautiful  work,'  is  a  proof  that  Paul  is  speaking — Paul,  who  felt 
that  to  be  a  minister  of  Christ  was  to  be  a  gazing-stock  to  the 
world,  and  the  offscouring  of  all  things.  (For  the  idea  of  'work' 
see  i.  Thess.  v.  13  ;  i  Cor.  xv.  58,  xvi.  10  ;  Phil.  ii.  30.)  'A  good 
work,'  says  Bengel,  *  must  be  entrusted  to  good  men.' 

2.  A  beautiful  work  (as  it  is  here)  must  be  carried  out  by 
beautiful  characters  ;  by  one  who  is  without  reproach  ;  not  only 
one  unblamed,  but  one  who  does  not  deserve  to  be  blamed  (the 


I  TIMOTHY  3.  2  105 

must  be  without  reproach  \   the  husband  of  one  wife, 

same  as  '  blameless '  in  Titus  i.  7).  '  This  is  the  dominant  idea  of  all 
the  following  qualifications  '  (Riggenbach).  (Compare  all  through 
the  description  here  with  that  in  Titus  i.  5-9,  ill.  2.) 

the  husband  of  one  wife:  cf.  verse  12,  v.  9  ;  Titus  i.  6.  It 
is  generally  assumed  now  that  this  forbids  to  ministers  a  second 
marriage.  Paul  was  not  averse  to  second  marriages  for  Christians, 
as  such  (Rom.  viii.  3  ;  i  Cor.  vii.  9,  39 ;  i  Tim.  v.  14%  but  he  is 
supposed  to  set  a  higher  standard  for  the  clergy,  whether 
overseers,  deacons  (verse  12),  or  church  widows  (verse  9). 
Dr.  Bernard  points  out  that  the  Pentateuch  had  a  straiter  law  of 
marriage  for  priests  than  for  other  people  (Lev,  xxi.  14).  But  he 
proceeds  to  shew  that  the  Roman,  Greek,  and  Anglican  churches 
have  all  set  Paul's  teaching  at  defiance,  the  first  by  forbidding  the 
clergy,  the  second  by  forbidding  the  bishops,  to  marry ;  the  last, 
by  allowing  any  clergyman  to  marry  as  often  as  he  likes.  He 
concludes  that  *  the  sense  of  the  church  is  that  this  regulation  may 
be  modified.'  The  sense,  or  at  least  the  practice,  of  the  church 
has,  it  is  to  be  feared,  modified  every  one  of  the  requirements 
which  are  mentioned  here.  When  has  the  Roman  Church 
demanded  that  her  bishops  should  have  their  own  children  in 
subjection  with  all  gravity?  Seldom  has  the  Greek  Church 
required  her  bishops  to  be  •  apt  to  teach '  or  even  free  from  the 
love  of  wine.  And  the  Anglican  Church,  during  these  last  three 
centuries,  has  presented  the  spectacle  of  bishops  who  do  not 
realize  any  of  the  Pauline  requirements.  Unhappily  '  the  sense 
of  the  church  seems  to  be  that  all  the  regulations  of  the  gospel 
may  be  modified  by  circumstances.'  But  if  Paul,  by  the  direction 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  wrote  this  letter  ;  and  if  he  meant  by  the 
'husband  of  one  wife'  one  who  is  only  married  once,  we  must 
firmly  insist  that  Christian  ministers  should  not  marry  again. 
Nothing  is  more  despicable  or  demoralizing  than  to  recognize 
the  commandments  of  God  in  Scripture,  and  to  explain  them 
away  by  'the  sense  of  the  church,'  or  by  the  laxity  of  moral 
standards.  It  is,  however,  quite  arbitrary,  and  curiously  re- 
gardless of  the  historical  situation  in  Ephesus  or  Crete  to  give 
to  the  words  the  meaning  now  before  us.  If  these  letters  arc 
written  by  Paul,  and  to  Christian  workers  in  those  corrupt 
Greek  cities,  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  represents  Christianity 
creating  a  totally  new  moral  standard.  In  Greece  irregular 
connexions  with  women,  before  and  after  marriage,  were  not 
even  censurable.  The  hetaera  was  a  recognized  feature  of  the 
highest  Greek  civilization.  Every  one  will  remember  Augustine's 
account  in  the  Confessions  of  his  early  amours.     Until  he  became 

*  *  without  reproach  '  :  a  word  found  only  in  this  Epistle,  v.  7,  vi.  14. 


io6  I  TIMOTHY   3.  3 

temperate  \   soberminded,  orderly,  given  to  hospitality, 
3  apt  to  teach ;  no  brawler  ^,  no  striker  ^ ;   but  gentle,  not 

a  Christian,  no  doubt  of  their  legitimacy  crossed  his  mind.  The 
Mohammedan  standard  in  this  respect  is  not  below,  but  rather 
above,  that  of  the  ancient  world.  And  it  must  be  remembered 
that  even  to-day,  in  Christian  Europe,  the  vast  bulk  of  men 
practise,  and  moralists  like  Mr.  Lecky  excuse,  a  vice  which  it  was 
a  main  object  of  Christianity  to  rebuke.  It  is  therefore  wholly 
unhistorical  to  force  back  on  the  age  of  Paul  an  idea  which  is  only 
the  result  of  his  nobler  teaching,  and  to  forget  that  at  the  beginning 
it  was  as  necessary  to  warn  good  men  against  sexual  indulgence 
as  against  excess  in  wine  or  love  of  money.  Difficult  therefore 
as  it  is  for  the  modern  reader,  confused  by  cross  currents  of 
opinion,  to  get  the  right  point  of  view,  Paul  is  not  here  laying 
down  a  higher  moral  demand  for  the  overseer  than  he  would 
for  other  Christians  :  he  is  simply  expressing  the  novel  thought 
that  for  the  ministry  of  religion  there  was  a  moral  demand. 
Catholic  churches  to  this  day  maintain  that  the  efficacy  of  religious 
ministrations  is  not  hindered  by  the  moral  delinquencies  of 
ministers.  If  this  is  so  now,  how  much  more  need  was  there 
then  to  assert  the  opposite,  and  to  shew  that  the  Christian  ministry 
is  a  ministry  of  character — a  ministry  of  teaching  which  follows  on 
a  holy  example  ?  This  phrase  therefore,  and  that  in  v.  9,  should  be 
taken  quite  simply,  '  a  man  of  one  woman  *  or  *  a  woman  of  one 
man  * ;  that  is,  the  Christian,  as  Paul  taught  in  Ephesians,  was  to  be 
a  monogamist,  and  to  see  in  his  relation  with  his  wife  a  symbol  of 
the  union  between  Christ  and  the  church.  Concubinage  was 
henceforth  forbidden.  What  was  legitimate  in  a  saint  like 
Abraham,  or  in  a  king  like  David,  was  not  legitimate  for  even 
the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  mysticism  of  marriage 
between  Christ  and  his  bride  the  church  demanded  that  man  and 
wife,  during  this  life  (for  in  the  next  there  is  no  marriage  or  giving 
in  marriage)  should  be  content  with  an  exclusive  and  inclusive 
devotion,  as  one  flesh.     So,  in  the  main,  Riggenbach  and  Zahn. 

temperate :  in  mind  and  spirit. 

soberminded  (ii.  9),  orderly.  The  one  refers  to  inward 
life,  the  other  to  outward  conduct. 

given  to  hospitality:  a  thoroughly  Christian  virtue  (v.  10, 
Rom.  xii.  13  ;  Heb.  xiii.  2  ;  i  Pet.  iv.  9;  and  esp.  3  John  5). 

apt  to  teaclx.  Cf.  v.  17,  2  Tim.  ii.  24  ;  Titus  i.  9  ;  and  Eph.  iv. 
ir,  which  shews  that  the  overseers  or  elders  were  also  to  be 
pastors  and  teachers. 

'  temperate.'     The  word  only  in  the  Pastorals. 
'  '  brawler'  (Titus  i.  7}/  striker,' '  not  contentious':  all  three  words 
found  only  in  the  Pastorals. 


I  TIMOTHY   3.  4,  5  107 

contentious  ^  no  lover  of  money  ^ ;  one  that  ruleth  well  4 
his  own  house,  having  his  children  in  subjection  with  all 
gravity ;  (but  if  a  man  knoweth  not  how  to  rule  his  own  5 

3.  no  striker.  This  confirms  what  was  said  about  '  husband  of 
one  wife.'  It  was  Christ's  new  law  that  made  men  not  '  strikers/ 
wilHng  to  be  struck  but  not  to  strike.  The  most  elementary 
virtues  had  to  be  insisted  on  in  those  first  days. 

g'entle.  It  is  the  Aristotelian  word,  found  also  in  Phil.  iv.  5, 
which  Matthew  Arnold  happily  rendered,  in  the  noun,  as  '  sweet 
reasonableness.'  It  represents  the  spirit  of  equity  as  opposed  to 
a  stiff  justice. 

having  his  children.  The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  is  condemned 
beforehand  (see  iv.  3).  Every  Roman  priest  has  to  throw  aside 
the  Pastoral  Epistles,  not  on  critical,  but  dogmatic  grounds.  His 
church  forbids  him  to  marry.  Paul  assumes  that  he  is  married  as 
a  matter  of  course. 

with  all  gravity :  viz.  in  himself :  seeversesS,  11.  TheGerman 
Wiirde  is  better  than  the  English  *  gravity.'  It  is  not  the  solemnity 
of  an  official  that  is  meant,  but  the  sweet  dignity  of  a  child  of  God, 
which  *  equally  excludes  complaisance  and  passion'  (Riggenbach). 
5.  The  idea  of  the  churcli  as  a  family  or  household  of  God, 
derived,  perhaps,  from  the  O.  T.  (Num.  xii.  7  ;  Hos.  viii.  i),  is 
dear  to  Paul  (v.  15,  i  Cor.  iv.  i ;  Gal.  vi.  10 ;  Eph.  iii.  9).  The 
idea  is  much  clearer  when  it  is  rightly  translated  :  '  How  shall 
he  take  care  of  a  church  of  God  ? '  The  church  referred  to  is 
the  local  community.  The  term  '  church  of  God '  is  only  found 
in  Paul's  Epistles  (Hort,  Chnstian  Ecdesia,  p.  108).  Bengel  says 
'  it  is  a  greater  thing  to  rule  a  church  than  a  family.'  The  sig- 
nificance of  the  phrase  'church  of  God'  is  seen  in  the  adaptation 
of  Ps.  Ixxiv.  2,  made  by  Paul  in  addressing  the  Ephesian  elders,  as 
claiming  for  the  community  of  Christians  the  prerogatives  of  God's 
ancient  Ecclesia.  With  the  exception,  however,  of  two  places  in 
I  Timothy  (iii.  5,  15),  where  the  old  name  is  used  with  a  special  force 
derived  from  the  context,  this  name  is  confined  to  Paul's  earlier 
Epistles — Thessalonians,  Corinthians,  and  Galatians.  It  is  very 
striking  that  at  this  time,  when  his  antagonism  to  the  Judaizers 
was  at  its  hottest,  he  never  for  a  moment  set  a  new  Ecclesia 
against  the  old,  an  Ecclesia  of  Jesus,  or  even  an  Ecclesia  of 
the  Christ,  against  the  Ecclesia  of  God,  but  implicitly  taught  his 
heathen  converts  to  believe  that  the  body  into  which  they  had 
been  baptized  was  itself  the  Ecclesia  of  God. 

'  *  no  lover  of  money,'  the  word  used  occurs  nowhere  else  in  Paul^ 
though  its  correlative  abstract  noun  is  found  in  vi.  10. 


io8  I  TIMOTHY  3.  6-8 

house,  how  shall  he  take  care  ^  of  the  church  of  God  ?) 

6  not  a  novice  ^  lest  being  puffed  up "  he  fall  into  the 

7  condemnation  of  the  devil.      Moreover  he  must  have 
good  testimony  from  them  that  are  without ;  lest  he  fall 

8  into  reproach  and  the  snare  of  the  devil.     Deacons  in 

6.  puffed  up  means  rather  '  clouded,'  and  suggests  our  notion 
of  getting  into  a  cloudland  of  conceit,  as  a  young  Christian  is  apt 
to  do.  If  he  is  in  a  position  of  responsibihty,  this  attitude  of  the 
head  in  the  clouds  is  not  only  hurtful  to  the  church,  but  liable  to 
drive  him  into  wilfulness,  dogmatism,  violence,  and,  in  a  word, 
'  the  judgement  of  the  devil.'  In  verse  7  it  is  shewn  that 
in  order  to  escape  this  judgement,  or,  in  this  case,  reproach 
and  snare  of  the  devil  (cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  26),  he  must  have  good 
testimony  from  those  outside  the  church,  who  are  quick  to  connect 
what  the  man  was  and  what  he  has  become,  presumably  because 
one  who  is  not  respected  outside  the  church  is  apt  to  be  the  more 
arrogant  and  self-assertive  within.  The  devil  watches  every 
Christian,  and  especially  a  minister,  eager  to  bring  him  into 
judgement,  reproach,  and  a  snare. 

The  idea,  countenanced  by  Riggenbach,  that '  the  devil,*  with  the 
article  (cf.  2 Tim.  ii.  26  ;  Eph.  iv.  27,  vi,  11),  could  simply  mean  'the 
slanderer,'  because  the  word  without  the  article  means  slanderer 
in  iii.  11  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  3;  Titus  ii.  3,  is  tempting,  but  should  be 
resisted  as  a  temptation.  It  is  the  definite  article  before  diabolns 
which  determines  that  not  an  ordinary  slanderer  but  the  great 
slanderer  of  the  brethren  is  meant 

Dr.  Bernard  makes  an  interesting  comparison  between  the 
*  overseer's  *  qualifications  and  those  of  the  Stoic  wise  man  in 
Diogenes  Laertius,  thus  : — 

The  Overseer.  The  Wise  Man. 

Married  and  a  good  father.  the  same. 

Not  beclouded  (puff'ed  up).  free  from  cloud  (self-esteem). 

Not  given  to  wine  (no  brawler).       shall    drink  wine    but   not    to 

excess. 
Soberminded  and  orderly.  orderliness    following    on    so- 

briety. 
Bodily   exercise   prescribed  (r      shall  accept  exercise  to  make 

Tim.  iv.  8).  his  body  enduring. 

8.  Deacons:    Phil.   i.    i;    Rom.   xii.  7;    i   Pet.    iv.    11;    and 

^  *  take  care ' :  a  word  not  otherwise  used  by  Paul  ^but  see  Luke 

X.  34,  35)-. 

*  *a  novice.'    The  word  only  here  in  N.  T. 

^  *  puffed  up ' :  a  word  only  in  the  Pastorals  (vi.  4;  2  Tim.  iii.  4). 


I  TIMOTHY   3.  9-1  r  109 

like  manner  must  he  grave,  not  doubletongued  \  not  given 
to  much  wine,  not  greedy  of  filthy  lucre  '^ ;    holding  the   9 
mystery  of  the  faith  in  a  pure  conscience.      And  let  10 
these    also   first   be   proved;    then   let   them   serve   as 
deacons',  if  they  be  blameless.     Women  in  like  manner  n 

perhaps  the  'helps'  of  i  Cor.  xii.  28.  These  are  the  3'ounger 
men  of  i  Pet.  v.  5.  Paul  often  calls  himself  a  deacon,  or  minister, 
and  his  work  a  ministry.  And  it  is  doubtful  whether  in  his 
lifetime  the  word  had  acquired  any  official  significance.  As 
the  elders  of  the  church  were  the  overseers  (Acts  xx.  17,  28), 
so  the  younger  men  were  appointed  to  subordinate  tasks.  The 
seven  elected  in  Acts  vii.  to  serve  tables  are  not  called  'deacons,' 
but  the  administration  of  relief  to  the  poor  was  no  doubt  entrusted 
to  these  subordinates,  while  the  overseers,  as  Hatch  maintained, 
would  keep  in  their  hands  the  general  control  of  the  church 
finances.  Probably  verse  13  indicates  that  deacons  who  did  their 
duty  well  would  be  raised  to  the  position  of  overseers. 

doubletougaied.      Bengel  renders  it  ad  alios  alia  loquentes^ 
saying  one  thing  to  one  and  another  thing  to  another ;  or  perhaps 
'  talebearers'  (Lightfoot). 
^ven  to  :  i.  4. 

O.  the  mystery  of  the  faith.  Cf.  verse  16  ;  a  phrase  found  only 
here.  But  the  m3'stery  is  referred  to  in  Matt.  xiii.  11  ;  Eph.  i.  9  ; 
Rom.  xvi.  25.  Bearing  in  mind  the  parallels,  viz.  mystery  of 
godliness  (verse  16),  and  mystery  of  lawlessness  (2  Thess.  ii.  7%  we 
may  interpret  it  as  the  Divine  truth  of  the  gospel  revealed  to  and 
grasped  by  faith,  which  is  called  a  mystery  because  (i)  it  was  once 
hid  though  now  revealed  (Rom.  xvi.  25),  and  (2)  it  remains  hid  still 
to  the  natural,  and  is  known  only  by  the  spiritual  man  (i  Cor. 
ii.  7,  14). 

11.  Women  in  like  manner.  From  its  place  in  the  midst  of 
a  paragraph  on  the  qualifications  of  deacons,  or  the  younger 
servants  of  the  church,  the  only  conclusion  that  the  words  seem 
to  admit  is  that  the  '  women '  are  the  corresponding  servants  of 
the  church  on  the  female  side.  Such  women  were  called 
deaconesses  (e.g.  by  Paul  in  Rom.  xvi.  i  ;  marg.)  The  Greek 
word  is  identical  for  masculine  and  feminine.  The  Apostolic 
Constitutions  contain  regulations  for  deacons  of  both  sexes  not 

*   '  doubletongued  '  :  a  word  found  only  here. 

'  'greedy  of  filthy  lucre':  also  at  Titus  i.  7  (cf.  verse  11),  but 
only  in  the  Pastorals. 

^  *  let  them  serve  as  deacons '  :  a  verb  only  used  here  in  this 
specific  sense. 


I  TO  I  TIMOTHY   3.  12,13 

7nust  be  grave,  not  slanderers  \  temperate,  faithful  in  all 

12  things.      Let  deacons  be  husbands  of  one  wife,  ruling 

1 3  their  children  and  their  own  houses  well.  For  they  that 
have  served  well  as  deacons  gain  "^  to  themselves  a  good 
standing^,  and  great  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

unlike  those  in  the  Pastorals.  The  ancient  interpreters  took  the 
view  that  this  verse  refers  to  deaconesses.  Strange  to  say, 
von  Soden  in  the  Hand-Commentar  maintains  that  it  refers  to 
wives  of  deacons,  as  did  Luther,  Bengel,  and  Weiss. 

In  that  interesting  attempt  to  restore  the  practice  and  polity  of 
the  N.T.,  which  we  know  as  Congregationalism,  the  deaconess  was 
instituted  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  exiled  church  at  Amsterdam 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  as  Governor  Bradford  tells  us, 
'  besides  pastor,  teacher,  elders,  and  deacons,  had  one  ancient 
widow  for  a  deaconess,  who  did  them  service  many  years, 
though  she  was  sixty  years  of  age  when  she  was  chosen.  She 
honoured  her  place,  and  was  an  ornament  to  the  congregation. 
She  usually  sat  in  a  convenient  place  in  the  congregation  with 
a  little  birchen  rod  in  her  hand,  and  kept  little  children  in  great 
awe  from  disturbing  the  congregation.  She  did  frequently  visit 
the  sick  and  weak,  especially  women,  and  as  there  was  need 
called  out  maids  and  young  women  to  watch  and  do  them  other 
helps  as  their  necessity  did  require ;  and  if  they  were  very  poor, 
she  would  gather  relief  for  them  of  those  that  were  able,  or 
acquaint  the  deacons  ;  and  she  was  obeyed  as  a  mother  in  Israel 
and  an  officer  of  Christ.' 

And  in  Barrow's  Description  of  a  Church  the  office  of  deaconess 
is  identified,  as  in  our  Epistles,  with  that  of  the  widow:  their 
widows  or  relievers  must  be  women  of  sixty  years  of  age  at  the 
least,  for  avoiding  of  inconveniences  ;  they  must  be  well  reported 
of  for  good  works,  such  as  have  nourished  their  children,  such  as 
have  been  harbourers  to  strangers,  &c.'  See  Dr.  Powicke's//^«;.7 
Barroiv,  pp.  237,  344. 

slanderers :  see  note  on  verse  6. 

13.  a  good  standing*.  It  cannot  refer  to  the  future  hfe,  like  vi. 
19,  and  does  not  come,  therefore,  under  Schmidt  and  Holzendorffs 
comment :  '  the  idea  is  as  far  from  being  Pauline  as  that  of  vi.  19.' 
The  present  tense  of  the  verb  precludes  this  reference.     Nor  can 

*  '  slanderers.'     Only  in  the  Pastorals  in  this  sense  in  the  N.  T. 
^  '  gain  '  :  a  word  not  elsewhere  used  by  Paul. 
'  *  standing.'    The  word,  which  signifies  a  step,  occurs  only  here  In 
the  N.  T. 


I  TIMOTHY   3.  14,  15  III 

These  things  write  I  unto  thee,  hoping  to  come  unto  14 
thee  shortly;  but  if  I  tarry  long,  that  thou  mayest  know  15 
how  men  ought  to  behave  themselves  in  the  house  of 
God,  which  is  the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar 

it,  of  itself,  signify  a  promotion  in  the  grades  of  the  ministry  ; 
that  is  forbidden  by  the  idea  which  is  coupled  with  it  ;  to  unite 
ecclesiastical  advancement  and  boldness  in  the  faith  is  too  incon- 
gruous a  mode  of  speech  to  be  attributed  to  any  but  the  most 
ignorant  writers.  But  the  good  standing  and  boldness  in  the 
faith,  secured  by  diligent  and  faithful  discharge  of  a  deacon's 
office,  say  visiting  the  sick  and  the  poor,  reading  the  Scriptures, 
arranging  the  services,  &c.,  may  well  be  the  reason  for  raising  the 
deacon  to  the  office  of  overseer.  '  Deacons  by  excellent  discharge 
of  their  duties  may  win  for  themselves  an  excellent  vantage  ground, 
a  'standing'  a  little,  as  it  were,  above  the  common  level,  enabling 
them  to  exercise  an  influence  and  moral  authority  to  which  their 
work  as  such  could  not  entitle  them '  (Hort,  Ecclesia,  p.  202). 

The  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  (cf.  Acts  iv. 
29;  2  Cor.  vii.  4)  is  that  freedom  of  utterance  and  fullness  of  matter 
which  come  from  a  close  and  parsonal  ministiy  to  others.  A 
diligent  deacon  would  probably  know  every  one  in  the  church 
intimately,  and  would  be  accustomed  to  apply  the  teachings  of  the 
gospel  to  individuals  more  by  way  of  conversation  than  in  set 
discourses  :  a  sure  aid  to  spiritual  growth. 

14.  We  now  have  the  object  of  all  these  directions  stated. 
Paul  hopes  presently  to  rejoin  Timothy.  But  in  case  of  delay 
he  wishes  to  instruct  him  *  how  he  ought  to  behave  in  a  house 
of  God,  which  is  a  church  of  the  living  God,  a  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth.'  The  use  of  the  indefinite  for  the  definite  article, 
as  in  the  original,  gives  a  slightly  different  colour  to  the  passage  ; 
it  makes  it  evident  that  what  Paul  means  by  God's  house  (i  Pet. 
ii.  5;  I  Cor.  iii.  9,  16;  Eph.  ii.  22:  cf.  Heb.  iii.  5,  x.  21)  and 
the  church  of  God  is  not  the  church  as  a  whole,  but  a  local 
community,  such  as  that  at  Ephesus  (Hort's  Ecclesia,  p.  172), 
which  is  indeed  the  prevalent  sense  of  'church'  in  the  N.T. 
It  is  then  a  local  church  which  is  described  as  a  pillar  and  stay 
of  the  truth.  As  a  community  united  in  Christ,  and  secure  of 
his  presence,  it  takes  its  part  in  the  great  work  of  supporting 
truth,  and  as  such  it  has  importance,  and  demands  all  the  care 
in  organizing  and  managing  which  the  writer  expends  on  it  in 
this  letter. 

It  is  worth  while  dwelling  for  a  moment  on  this  verse.  The 
house  of  God  is  not  the  building  but  the  household  (cf.  2  Tim. 
i.  16  ;  Titus  i.  11).   It  is  the  society  of  believing  souls,  and  a  certain 


112  I  TIMOTHY   3.  i6 

i6  and  ground'  of  the  truth.  And  without  controversy^ 
great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness ;  He  who  was 
manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,   seen  of 

kind  of  order  is  to  be  maintained  in  it  because  (this  causal  meaning 
is  implied  in  the  relative  pronoun  used  for  '  which ')  it  is  a  church, 
that  is,  an  assembly  of  a  God  that  lives  (2  Cor.  vi.  16),  The  attitude 
of  pra3'er  (ch.  ii)  and  the  moral  character  of  ministers  (ch  iii) 
must  be  maintained  because  this  Christian  community  belongs  to 
a  living  God.  We  are  defining  the  behaviour  of  members  of  a 
household,  of  w^hich  God  is  the  householder  or  master.  When 
such  a  living  witness  as  a  Christian  church  is  described  as  a  pillar 
and  stay  of  the  truth,  it  does  not  mean  that  truth,  as  such,  stands 
in  need  of  such  a  stay ;  but  that  for  presentation  to  the  world, 
truth  demands  such  an  organization. 

16.  And  now  the  gist  of  this  truth  which  a  church  has  to 
maintain  is  given  in  some  related  clauses  which  have  the  ring 
of  a  hymn. 

great  is  the  mystery  of  gollinsss  :  i  e.  the  mysteiy  (i  Cor. 
iv.  I  ;  Eph.  iii.  3,  9,  vi.  19  ;  Col.  i.  27,  ii.  2,  iv.  3)  which  godliness 
contains  and  feeds  on,  viz.  the  person  of  Christ  himself,  is  so 
^  vast  that  no  pains  bestowed  ct  the  management  of  the  church 
can  be  too  great.  The  mystery  is  expressed  in  verse.  Certain 
words  of  the  hymn  must  be  supplied,  e.  g.  '  Let  us  praise  Christ 
our  Lord — 

1.  'who  was  manifested  in  flesh' :  i  John  iv^.  2  ;  Rom.  viii.  3  ; 
John  i,  14. 

2.  'Was  shewn  to  be  such  as  he  was  in  spirit'  :  Rom.  iii.  4; 
Matt.  xi.  19;  Luke  vii.  35. 

3.  *  Was  seen  of  angels '  (sc.  when  he  returned  to  heaven)  : 
Eph.  i.  10,  20 ;  Col.  i.  20. 

4.  'Was  preached  among  the  nations':  Phil.  i.  15;  Matt, 
xxviii.  19. 

5.  '  Was  believed  on  in  the  world  '  :  Rom.  xi.  12,  15. 

6.  '  Was  taken  up  into  glory'  :  Mark  xvi.  19  ;  Acts  i.  2,  11,  22, 
Verses  i,  2,  4,  and  5  refer  to  earth  ;  3  and  6  to  heaven. 

No  change  in  the  R.  V.  was  thought  to  be  more  important  than 
the  substitution  of  '  he  who  '  for  '  God,'  One  might  have  supposed 
that  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord  depended  on  a  faded  line  in  a  Greek 
uncial.  0C  in  an  uncial  is  the  contraction  for  'God,'  and  OC  is 
the  relative  pronoun  '  who.'  The  words  might  be  ea'^ily  confused. 
But  the  preponderance  of  evidence  shews  that  the  original  reading 
was  'who'  and  not  '  God.'     By  that  w^e  must  abide. 

'  'ground,'  or  'stay'  :  a  word  not  used  elsewhere  in  the  N.T. 
^  '  without  controversy  '  :   a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


I  TIMOTHY  3.  16  113 

angels,  preached  among  the  nations,  believed  on  in  the 
world,  received  up  in  glory. 

This,  we  suppose,  is  a  fragment  of  a  Christian  h3'mn,  such  as 
Phny  says  {Ep.  x.  97)  the  Christians  were  wont  to  sing  *  to  Christ 
as  God'  (cf.  Eph.  v.  19;  Col.  iii.  16).  Perhaps  Eph.  v.  14  is 
another  such  fragment. 

The  first  two  hnes  state  that  Jesus,  pre-existent,  was  manifested 
in  the  flesh,  and  yet  was  'justified,'  i.  e,  shewn  to  be  the  Lord  from 
heaven  in  his  spirit  (cf.  i  Pet.  iii,  18  for  this  balance  of  flesh  and 
spirit).  The  line  *  was  seen  of  angels '  might  refer  to  the  deeper 
views  which  angels  gained  of  God  in  the  Incarnation  (cf  i  Pet. 
i.  la  ;  Eph.  iii.  10),  or  it  might  simply  call  attention  to  the  wide 
range  of  intelligences  that  watched  the  earthly  life  of  Christ  (cf. 
I  Cor.  iv.  9).  But  if  the  third  and  sixth  lines  of  the  hymn  are 
parallel,  as  we  suppose,  'seen  of  angels'  must  refer  to  the  glad 
return  to  heaven,  when  angels  saw  and  welcomed  him. 

The  next  two  verses  return  to  earth,  and  record  the  preaching 
of  Christ  in  all  nations  and  the  faith  which  his  person  attracted, 
followed  by  a  repetition,  like  a  refrain,  of  his  return  to  heaven. 

As  we  look  back  over  the  regulations  for  a  Christian  Church, 
contained  in  chaps,  ii,  iii,  there  are  some  general  notes  which 
deserve  attention. 

1,  The  universality  of  prayer  based  on  the  tintversality  of  the 
gospel,  and  especially  that  concern  which  the  church,  even  in  this 
primitive  stage  of  tts  development,  has  with  the  state  and  its 
administration  (ii.  2).  This  will  meet  us  again  in  Titus  iii.  i. 
The  church  is  in  the  world,  and  is  not  to  be  identified  with 
the  state,  but  it  is  always  there  to  bring  the  state  into  harmony 
with  the  will  of  the  Blessed  and  only  Potentate.  Even  when  the 
state  persecutes  the  church,  and  the  claims  of  truth  require  her 
to  resist  the  claims  of  the  state,  she  will  continue  to  pray  for 
kings  and  those  in  authority,  that  the  outward  order  may  be 
consistent  with  her  own  peace  and  tranquil  growth. 

2.  The  relation  of  men  and  women  in  the  church.  On  the  one 
hand,  woman's  Divine  function  is  to  be  sought  rather  in  the  home 
and  in  the  family  than  in  the  public  services  of  the  church  (ii.  15)  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  she  has  her  church  functions.  We  have 
seen  that  in  all  probability  it  is  assumed  that  on  certain  conditions 
she  would  pray  in  the  church  ;  and  she  holds  an  office  cor- 
responding to  that  of  the  deacons,  while  as  wives  of  bishops  and 
deacons  women  have  an  essential  influence  on  the  church,  since 
the  right  ordering  of  the  bishop's  or  deacon's  home  is  a  necessary 
condition  for  the  right  ordering  of  the  church.  In  chap.  v.  we 
shall  see  further  that  an  order  of  church  widows  was  recognized. 


114  I  TIMOTHY  4.  1 

4      But  the  Spirit  saith  expressly  \  that  in  later  times  ^  some 

And  in  Titus  ii.  2  the  elder  women  have  the  definite  function  of 
teaching  and  training  the  younger.  Thus  the  position  of  woman 
in  the  Christian  Church  is  from  the  first  decidedly  vindicated. 

3.  The  church  officers  in  each  community  are  bishops  (^overseers) 
and  deacons  {sovants).  That  they  are  the  elder  and  younger 
members  of  the  church  will  appear  in  chap.  v.  Whether 
the  bishop  is  distinguished  from  the  elders,  as  the  one  minister 
of  the  church,  by  the  use  of  the  singular  in  iii.  i  and  in  Titus 
i.  7,  is  more  than  doubtful.  That  neither  bishop  nor  deacon  has 
any  priestly  function  or  status  is  more  than  evident.  Their 
status  rests  on  character  and  on  the  reputation  they  have  gained 
in  the  world  outside  the  church :  they  are  married  men  who  learn 
in  their  own  households  how  to  manage  the  household  of  God. 
The  bishops  have  to  teach ;  perhaps  in  the  caution  against 
covetousness  (iii.  8)  there  is  a  hint  that  the  deacons  had  the 
management  of  money,  but  from  Titus  i.  7  it  is  clear  that  the 
bishops  were  financial  officers  as  well. 

It  is  evident  that  here,  as  in  Phil.  i.  i,  Paul  only  contemplated 
two  orders  of  ministry :  the  elders,  or  overseers,  and  the  younger, 
or  servants,  of  the  church. 

4.  The  church  community  is  God's  way  of  guarding  and  com- 
municating the  truth — that  sacred  deposit  of  the  gospel,  that 
mystery  of  the  faith,  which  an  apostle  like  Paul  received  directly 
from  above,  but  which  was  to  be  transmitted  to  the  coming  ages 
by  the  Christian  communities  or  churches. 

And  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  very  pith  and  centre  of  the 
church  community  is  that  Divine  Being  whose  course  earthward 
and  heavenward  is  celebrated  in  the  closing  hymn.  To  keep  the 
church  pure  and  simple  is  to  make  the  witness  of  the  Divine 
Redeemer  clear  to  men.  And  the  warning  against  heresies  and 
corruptions  is  necessary,  lest  the  simplicity  which  is  in  Christ 
should  be  obscured. 

III.  In  contrast  with  a  true  chtircli.     iv. 

Chap.  iv.  The  vision  of  a  Christian  society  as  a  pillar  and  stay  of 
the  truth  passes  into  a  forecast  of  the  error  against  which  the  truth 
will  have  to  be  maintained  (1-5),  and  that  leads  to  a  close  personal 
exhortation  to  Timothy^  as  a  protagonist  of  the  truth  in  the  church 
society  at  Ephesus,  and  as  a  '  deacon  [minister)  of  Christ  Jesus  '  (6-16). 

1.  the  Spirit  saith  expressly:  viz.  'the  spirit  of  prophecy* 
(i   Cor.  xii.    10  f.),   uttering  himself  through  some  prophet  like 

*  'expressly' :  viz.  in  words.  The  term  used  occurs  only  here  in 
theN.T. 

^  *in  later  times' :  a  term  found  only  here;  cf.  2  Tim.  iii.  i. 


I  TIMOTHY  4.  2  115 

shall  fall  away  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing 
spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils,  through  the  hypocrisy  of  2 
men  that  speak  lies  \  branded  ^  in  their  own  conscience  as 

Agabus  (Acts  xx.  23,  xxi.  11).  Paul  does  not  say  whether  this 
prophetic  forecast  had  come  through  him  or  some  other  of  the 
prophets  in  the  church  ;  but  he  paid  great  attention  to  such 
prophecies  ; i  Thess.  v.  19  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  2).  The  word  *  expressly* 
shews  that  the  prophecies  of  our  Lord  are  not  directly  meant 
(Matt.  vii.  15-23,  xi.  24,  xxiv.  4). 

The  opponents  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Pastorals  say : — 
*  The  writer  throws  the  description  of  the  false  teachers  of  his 
own  time  into  the  form  of  a  prophecy  revealed  to  Paul  by 
the  spirit'  (Holtzmann,  von  Soden\  They  say  that  the  heresy 
of  verses  1-5  is  a  heresy  of  the  second  century  which  is  to 
be  rebuked  by  this  fictitious  authority  of  Paul.  It  is  as  if  a 
churchman  of  to-day  were  to  compose  a  sermon  and  publish  it 
as  Bishop  Butler's,  foretelling  and  rebuking  the  Oxford  movement. 
But  evidently  there  is  a  curious  psychological  and  moral  question 
here  involved.  The  writer  is  denouncing  '  the  hypocrisy  of  men 
that  speak  lies,  branded  in  their  conscience  as  with  a  hot  iron.' 
Suppose  for  a  moment  that  this  writer  is  a  second-century  imitator 
of  Paul  ;  he  is  carefully  endeavouring  to  write  in  the  character 
of  the  Apostle,  and  he  wishes  the  composition  to  pass  as  the 
Apostle's.  Is  it  conceivable  that  he  would  in  such  circumstances 
speak  with  so  severe  a  tone  of  '  acting '  (that  is  the  meaning 
of  hypocrisy)  and  of  speaking  lies?  Would  it  not  occur  to 
him  that  he  was  himself  acting  a  part?  If  he  did  it  without 
flinching,  would  he  not  himself  be  'branded  in  his  own  con- 
science '  ? 

It  is  a  psychological  and  moral  difficulty  of  this  kind  which 
seems  at  times  to  overbalance  all  the  literary  and  philological 
difficulties  on  the  other  side,  and  to  justify  conservative  com- 
mentators in  their  contention  that  the  Pauline  authorship  is 
easier  to  accept  than  any  of  its  alternatives. 

seducing  spirits,  2  John  7,  or  i  John  iv.  i,  6;  'demons,' 
Jas.  iii.  15  ;  Eph.  vi.  12  :  demonic  powers  dwelling  and  working 
in  men.  In  Rev.  xvi.  13  the  three  unclean  spirits  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  false  prophet  shew  that  the  conception  of  this  verse 
belongs  to  the  first  age  of  the  church.  For  '  the  doctrine  of 
demons '  cf  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  xi.  14. 

2.  throuerh  hsrpocrisy :  i.  e.  teaching  error  under  a  cloak  of 
excessive  asceticism  and  devotion. 

*  *  men  that  speak  lies ' :  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible ; 
and  so  '  branded '. 

I   2 


ii6  I  TIMOTHY  4.  3 

3  with  a  hot  iron ;   forbidding  to  marry,  and  commanding 

branded  in  their  own  conscience.  The  meaning  of  the 
phrase  may  easily  be  missed.  It  is  not  that  the  conscience  is 
insensitive  and  cauterized ;  but  as  slaves  were  marked  by  a 
brand  on  the  brow,  so  these  heretical  teachers  would  be  marked 
in  their  own  conscience,  i.  e.  they  would  know  that  they  were 
guilty.  Their  sin  would  be  not  the  error  of  ignorance  or  mental 
weakness,  but  deliberate  lying  and  hypocrisy.  This  meaning, 
which  is  only  missed  by  the  A.  V.  '  seared,'  is  demonstrated  by 
the  parallel  (Titus  i.  15,  iii.  11)  '  self-condemned.' 

3.  forbidding"  to  marry,  ...  to  abstain  from  meats.  It  is 
not  a  little  remarkable  that  these  apparently  innocent  injunctions 
should  be  treated  so  severely,  as  the  proof  not  merely  of  error, 
but  of  deceit  and  hypocrisy.  The  Roman  Church  '  forbids '  all 
her  priests  '  to  marry,'  and  an  immense  part  of  her  discipline 
consists  in  forbiddmg  certain  meats  on  certain  days  and  at  certain 
seasons.  What  is  the  result?  (i)  The  celibate  priesthood  not 
only  leads  to  painful  moral  lapses  (e.  g.  in  South  America;, 
so  painful  that  it  is  said  Pope  Leo  XIII  contemplates  per- 
mitting the  priests  in  South  America  to  marry  in  order  to 
escape  the  results  foreseen  by  Paul,  but  it  prevents,  in  Catholic 
countries,  the  great  bulk  of  the  more  devout  and  spiritual  persons 
of  both  sexes  from  becoming  the  legitimate  parents  of  the  rising 
generation,  so  that  Catholic  countries  betray  a  steady  tendency  to 
moral  deterioration.  (2)  Forbidding  meats  produces  a  legal 
scrupulosity,  a  kind  of  casuistry  which  fritters  away  the  moral 
sense  on  things  indifferent ;  and  it  leads  to  that  reaction  which 
made  mediaeval  monasteries  a  synonym  for  Sybaritism,  and 
peopled  Dante's  Inferno  with  gluttons.  It  is  true  that  the  dual- 
istic  doctrines  of  the  second-century  Gnosticism,  denying  the 
flesh  and  matter  to  be  the  creation  of  God,  led  to  this  kind  of 
false  asceticism.  But  it  is  not  true  that  such  tendencies  were 
first  introduced  in  the  second  century.  We  are  no  more  com- 
pelled to  bring  this  warning  into  the  second  century  than  we  are 
to  bring  it  into  the  later  Roman  Church  which  has,  since  the 
eleventh  century,  'forbidden  to  marry.* 

It  is  quite  intelligible  that  Paul,  viewing  the  contempt  of 
marriage  among  the  Essenes  (Josephus,  B.  J.  ii.  8.  2),  and  the 
abstinence  of  the  Therapeutae  (Philo,  De  Vit.  Cont.,  4),  sets  his 
face  against  these  things  as  dangers  of  the  future.  Col.  ii.  16-19 
argues  the  point  more  at  length.  But  it  seems  that  even  in  those 
first  days,  the  Spirit  said  expressly  that  the  church  would  fall 
into  this  false  asceticism,  and  that  it  would  be  the  product,  as 
well  as  the  occasion,  of  hypocrisy  and  lies. 

Against  this  vast  apostasy  from  faith  ('verse  i)  the  protest — 
theological  as  well  as  rational — is  raised  in  the  beginning  under 


I  TIMOTHY  4.  4,  5  117 

to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God  created  to  be  received 
with  thanksgiving  by  them  that  beheve  and  know  the 
truth.     For  every  creature  ^  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing  4 
is  to  be  rejected  \  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving : 
for  it  is  sanctified  through  the  word  of  God  and  prayer.     5 

these  four  heads  :  (i)  God,  no  other,  made  these  meats  (and  also 
instituted  marriage) ;  (2)  He  made  them  with  a  design  (and 
marriage  too) ;  (3)  viz.  to  be  received  by  men,  not  stigmatized 
as  evil  in  a  Manichean  sense  ;  (4)  and  believing  men,  who  know 
the  truth,  should  take  them  with  thanksgiving.  This  last  point 
establishes  the  conclusion  that  they  who  forbid  marriage  and 
require  abstinence  from  meats  are  not  believing  men,  nor  do 
they  know  the  truth.  And  this  is  established  by  one  of  the 
greatest  utterances  of  Scripture,  which,  if  the  writer  were  not 
Paul,  would  reveal  to  us  a  primitive  Christian  who  was  Paul's 
equal. 

4.  every  creature  of  God  is  g'ood  (beautiful):  cf.  Gen.  i.  31. 
This  covers  not  only  foods  but  bodily  organs  (i  Pet.  iii.  7). 
•This  he  said,'  we  read  of  Jesus,  *  making  all  meats  clean'  (Mark 
vii.  19).  And  our  Saviour  himself  put  honour  on  marriage. 
When  a  man  takes  his  food,  or  when  a  man  receives  a  wife 
as  a  good  gift  from  the  Lord,  he  should  give  thanks,  and  not,  in 
churlish  scrupulosity,  pronounce  that  evil  which  God  made  good, 
and  reject  that  which  God  would  have  him  receive.  For  there 
is  a  way  by  which  these  things  are,  for  even  us  sinners,  made 
holy.     It  is  God's  way. 

5.  the  word  of  God  and  prayer:  cf,  Titus  i.  15;  Rom.  xiv. 
14-20,  The  'word  of  God,'  in  the  first  instance,  is  (Gen.  i,  31, 
ii.  18,  and  Heb.  x.  3)  that  creative  word  which  made  man  and 
woman  for  each  other  and  planted  Paradise  for  them  (perhaps 
also  Mark  vii,  19).  But  more  fully  it  is  the  word  of  God  that 
became  flesh,  born  of  a  woman,  who,  it  must  be  remembered, 
*  came  eating  and  drinking,'  in  contrast  with  the  ascetic  followers 
of  John.  Thus  Luther,  when  the  word  of  God  came  to  him, 
married  on  principle,  and  broke  the  spell  of  that  unchristian 
asceticism.  And  we  best  glorify  God  when,  with  the  first 
Christians,  we  '  continue  in  the  Apostle's  doctrine  and  eat  our 
meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart.' 

prayer :  the  word  used  in  ii.  i  and  translated  '  intercession.' 
It  is  the  petition  which  an  inferior  addresses  to  a  superior  ;  here, 
a  creature  to  the   Creator.     When  the  body  and   its  appetites, 

'  '  creature  '  and  '  to  be  rejected  '  :  both  words  not  elsewhere  used 
by  Paul,  nor  the  latter  in  the  Greek  Bible, 


ii8  I  TIMOTHY  4.  6,7 

6  If  thou  put  the  brethren  in  mind  of  these  things,  thou 
shalt  be  a  good  minister  of  Christ  Jesus,  nourished  ^  in 
the  words  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  good  doctrine  which 

7  thou  hast  followed  until  7iow :  but  refuse  profane  and 
old  wives'^  fables.     And  exercise  thyself  unto  godliness  : 

and  the  provision  made  for  their  satisfaction,  are  all  brought 
into  this  creaturely  relation,  and  accepted  thankfully  as  from 
the  Creator — when  the  revelation  which  God  has  given  us  in 
Scripture  is  met  by  the  lowly  and  prayerful  attitude  in  our 
hearts — then  a  sanctification  falls  upon  appetite  and  passion; 
they  are  kept  in  their  proper  place,  and  purged  by  the  Divine 
Spirit.  Incontinence  becomes  as  hateful  on  the  one  hand  as 
asceticism  is  ungrateful  on  the  other.  It  is  in  this  *  word  of  God 
and  prayer'  that  Greek  and  Essene  meet  in  a  nobler  unit}'^; 
temperance  and  self-restraint  increase  and  preserve  the  pleasures, 
while  pleasure  breathes  in  all  the  dainty  and  ordered  acceptance 
of  the  provisions  of  God. 

Mr.  Corbett  {Letters  from  a  Mystic)  has  a  delightful  argument  to 
shew  that  the  word  rendered  '  prayer'  might  mean  *  the  due  use,' 
as  opposed  to  the  misuse  or  the  refusal  to  use.  This  idea  can 
hardly  be  found  in  the  word,  but  it  is  the  inspiration  of  the 
thought. 

6.  minister.  That  the  word  'deacon'  is  used  here,  so  soon 
after  its  use  in  a  more  specific  sense  in  iii.  8,  does  not  shew  that 
Timothy  was  a  deacon,  but  it  does  shew  that  the  word  was  not 
yet  employed  as  the  name  of  an  office  ;  but  the  elders  of  the 
church  were  described  as  '  overseers,'  the  younger  were  described 
as  '  ser\'ants'  (i.  e.  ministers).  And  it  is  in  the  more  general  sense 
of  serving,  which  includes  the  ministry  of  Timothy,  that  we  all 
have  to  gain  to  ourselves  a  good  standing  and  boldness  in  the 
faith  (iii.  13). 

the  words  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  good  doctrine :  2  Tim. 
i.  13.  Also  I  Tim.  vi.  3  shews  that  these  words  included  the 
words  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

hast  followed:  2  Tim.  iii.  10. 

*J.  refuse.     See  i  Tim.  v.  it. 

For  the  '  myths '  here  called  profane  and  anile  see  on  i.  4. 
profane :   also  in  i.  9.     Not  necessarily  in  the  sense  that  we 
now  use  the  word  "'  profanity  ' ;   '  base  '  or  *  silly'  would  cover  the 
meaning  of  the  Greek  word  (cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  23). 

But  exercise  thyself.     The  adversative   conjunction  *  but,' 

*  'nourished.'     The  word  not  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible. 
"  '  old  wives' '  :   a  word  only  found  here  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


I  TIMOTHY  4.  8-1  r  119 

for  bodily  exercise  is  profitable  ^  for  a  little ;  but  godliness   8 
is  profitable  for  all  things,   having  promise  of  the  life 
which  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come.     Faithful  is   9 
the  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation.     For  to  this  10 
end  we  labour  and  strive,  because  we  have  our  hope  set 
on   the   living   God,  who   is   the   Saviour   of  all   men, 
specially  of  them  that  believe.     These  things  command  u 

rather  than  'and'  of  R.  V.,  shews  that  the  true  exercise  unto 
godliness  is  not  to  be  sought  either  in  the  empty  and  unprofitable 
speculations  of  Judaizers,  or  in  the  abstinence  from  marriage  and 
meats  which  has  just  been  condemned,  and  to  which,  perhaps, 
Timothy  had  a  leaning  ;  cf.  v.  23.  Indeed,  he  goes  on  to  say, 
such  bodily  exercise  (not  referring  to  gymnastics,  as  Chrysostom 
thought,  but  to  physical  asceticisms)  is  profitable  for  a  little, 
i.  e.  not  so  much  '  for  a  little  time,'  as  *  up  to  a  certain  point' — its 
use  goes  only  a  little  way — at  the  most  it  is  subservient  to  another 
end,  viz.  godliness.  (For  this  Pastoral  word  cf.  ii.  2,  iii.  16,  vi.  3, 
5,  6,  II  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  5  ;  Titus  i.  i.)  It  is  not  godliness  in  itself — 
it  has  no  virtue  in  itself;  but  as  ministrative  to  a  godly  life  it  has 
its  limited  sphere. 

8.  but  g-odliness  is  profitable  for  all  thing's :  in  contrast  with 
*  for  a  little.'  Godliness  has  *  promise  of  life  present  and  to  come.' 
This  cannot  be  said  of  ascetic  practices,  except  so  far  as  they 
promote  their  object,  godliness  ;  rather,  they  seem  to  have  promise 
of  death,  if  not  of  the  death  to  come,  at  least  of  death  in  the 
present.  Timothy  is  exhorted  thus  to  train  himself  that  he  may 
train  the  rest  (chap,  v),  and  resist  the  false  teachers. 

9.  Another  faithful  saying"  (i.  15),  referring,  in  this  case,  not 
to  what  follows  but  to  what  has  just  been  said.  What  follows 
establishes  the  faithfulness  of  the  saying  about  godliness  and  its 
promise. 

10.  strive.  It  is  the  familiar  word  for  striving  in  the  games, 
from  which  we  derive  our  word  '  agonize.' 

the  living-  God:  iii.  15.  The  living  God  is  the  pledge  of 
the  life  present  and  to  come,  which  is  the  object  of  godliness,  and 
the  justification  of  its  toil  and  striving. 

Saviour  of  all  men :  applied  to  God  ;  see  i.  i.  For  '  all 
men '  see  ii.  4. 

specially :  Gal.  vi.  10 ;  Phil.  iv.  22.  God  is  Saviour  of  all 
men,  by  His  intention,  offer,  and  propitiatory  work  (i  John  ii.  2). 

^  'profitable.'  This  word  only  in  the  Pastorals  (2  Tim.  iii,  16; 
Titus  iii.  8). 


I20  I.  TIMOTHY  4.  12 

i  3  and  teach.     Let  no  man  despise  thy  youth  ^ ;  but  be  thou 

But  as  on  man's  side  that  salvation  can  only  be  realized  by  faith, 
His  saving  relation  to  those  who  believe  is  something  over  and 
above  His  relation  to  all.  He  saves  all  potentially— those  who 
believe,  actually, 

12.  Iiet  no  man  despise  thy  youth.  Assuming  that  this  is  a 
letter  written  in  imitation  of  Paul,  modern  commentators  point 
to  I  Cor.  xvi.  ir,  and  urge  that  while  it  is  suitable  to  tell  the 
Corinthians  not  to  despise  Timothy,  it  is  inept  to  tell  Timothy  not 
to  be  despised.  Again,  the  word  for  'youth*  is  not  used  else- 
where in  Paul's  Epistles,  but  might  be  taken  from  Paul's  speech 
in  Actsxxvi.  4.  And  further,  when  this  letter  would,  exhypothcsi, 
be  written — sa^^  in  64— Timothy,  who  became  Paul's  missionary 
colleague  in  52,  would  be  at  least  thirty  years  of  age.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  here  is  a  difficulty  which  the  defenders  of  the 
genuineness  must  jneet.  But  if,  as  we  have  contended,  the 
arguments  for  genuineness  preponderate,  this  difficulty  must  be 
overcome  in  the  following  way  : — (i)  To  Titus  also  (Titus  ii.  15) 
the  writer  says  'Let  no  one  despise  thee,'  but  does  not  mention 
the  youthful ness ;  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  ir,  from  which  it  is  alleged  this 
passage  is  copied,  Timothy  is  guarded  against  contempt,  but  his 
youthfulness  is  not  mentioned  as  the  ground  of  it.  Surely  an 
imitator  of  Paul's  style,  with  that  fact  before  him,  would  have 
copied  the  remark  about  Timothy  as  it  stood,  without  mentioning 
a  ground  of  possible  contempt  out  of  his  own  head.  That  he  bids 
both  Timothy  and  Titus  not  to  be  despised,  suggests  that  the 
reason  why  they  might  be  despised  lay  rather  in  their  peculiar 
circumstances  than  in  their  personal  character.  (2)  Such  a  reason 
is  naturally  found  in  the  position  of  authority  which  they  both 
occupy  as  organizers  of  churches.  And  the  ground  of  contempt 
is  to  be  found  in  the  impetuosity  and  unrestraint  of  men  in  the 
prime  of  hfe.  And  thus  in  2  Tim.  ii.  22  it  is  youthful  lasts 
which  have  to  be  shunned.  This  interpretation  is  confirmed  by 
the  balancing  clause,  but  be  thou  an  ensample.  If  in  that  peculiar 
position  of  difficulty  Timothy,  young  man  like,  by  word  or  con- 
duct, should  fail  in  love,  or  faith,  or  purity,  he  would  bring  upon 
him  the  ready  scorn  of  those  who  are  inclined  to  resent  being 
guided  by  a  younger  man.  (3)  The  word  'youth'  in  Greek,  and 
in  Latin  too,  has  a  much  wider  extension  than  in  English.  The 
hSiiin  jtivoiis  is  applied  up  to  forly.  And  in  Greek  Polybius  calls 
a  man  '  very  3'oung '  because  he  was  not  thirty.  Galen  speaks 
of  one  as  '  slill  youthful'  though  he  was  in  his  thirty-fourth 
year  (Lightfoot,  Igna/iiis,  i.  448  \     And  further,  in  Acts  vii.  58, 

*  *  youth  ' :   not  elsewhere  in  Paul's  Epistles. 


I  TIMOTHY  4.  13,14  121 

an  ensample  to  them  that  beHeve,  in  word,  in  manner  of 
life,  in  love,  in  faith,  in  purity  \     Till  I  come,  give  heed  13 
to  reading,  to  exhortation,  to  teaching.     Neglect  '^  not  the  14 
gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy, 

Paul  is  called  a  'youth'  (the  concrete  noun  corresponding  to  the 
abstract  here)  when  he  was  thirty. 

If,  therefore,  on  other  grounds,  we  may  maintain  that  Paul 
wrote  these  words  to  Timothy  at  the  age  of  thirty  or  thirty-two, 
in  the  year  64,  it  is  possible  to  offer  some  mitigations  of  the 
hesitation  which  a  candid  reader  may  feel. 

purity.  The  word  signifies  purity  of  life  and  motive,  and 
covers  a  wider  field  than  the  more  restricted  meaning  suggested 
by  the  English  usage. 

13.  Till  I  come  (iii.  14)  clearly  places  Timothy  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  Paul  at  Ephesus. 

reading":  viz.  the  public  reading  of  the  Scriptures  (Luke 
iv.  16;  Acts  xiii.  15.  xv,  21  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  14  ;  Gal.  iv.  21) ;  perhaps 
also  of  his  master's  letters  (cf.  Col.  iv.  16  ;  i  Thess.  v.  27). 

ezhortation:  the  sermon  following  the  reading;  cf.  Acts 
xiii.  15. 

teaching*  (vi.  2)  accompanies  the  exhortation,  though  it 
might  come  from  another  voice  (see  Rom.  xii.  7). 

14.  the  g'ift  is  the  charisma,  or  gift  of  the  Spirit,  to  which 
Paul  frequently  refers  in  his  other  Epistles  ;  in  this  case  the  gift  of 
exhorting  and  teaching.  Comparing  this  account  of  the  laying  on  of 
hands  with  that  in  ii.  Tim.  i.  6,  one  is  at  once  struck  by  the  differ- 
ence. There  the  gift  was  given  through  the  laying  on  of  Paul's 
hands  ;  here  the  gift  was  given  through  prophecy,  accompanied  by 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbyterj'.  The  prophecy,  here 
in  the  singular,  must  be  the  general,  of  which  the  prophecies  in 
i.  18  were  the  particulars.  As  von  Soden  in  the  Hand-Conimeritat 
says,  the  different  phraseology  in  the  two  Epistles  certainly 
suggests  that  the  writer  referred  to  two  different  occasions.  And 
if  we  maj'  assume  this  everything  becomes  clearer.  In  the  per- 
sonal letter,  2  Timothy,  where  Paul  is  commissioning  his  follower 
to  carry  on  his  own  evangelistic  work  after  his  death,  he  refers  to 
the  occasion  (Acts.  xvi.  i  -^  when  he  first  took  the  young  man  as 
his  companion,  and  imparted  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  by  laying  on 
him  his  own  hands.  Hort,  referring  to  Acts  xiv.  23,  supposes 
that  on  that  occasion  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  might  have 
been  laid  on  the  young  man's  head  at  the  same  time  as  Paul's 

'  'purity.'  The  word  used  here  occurs  in  the  N.  T.  only  once  more, 
viz.  v.  2. 

^  *  Neglect ' :  a  word  not  elsewhere  used  by  Paul. 


122  I  TIMOTHY  4.  15,  16 

15  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery.     Be 
diligent  *  in  these  things ;   give  thyself  wholly  to  them ; 

16  that  thy  progress  may  be  manifest  unto  all.     Take  heed 

(Ecclesia,  p.  184).  And  so  he  explains  the  passage  in  this  first 
Epistle.  But  it  meets  the  facts  better  to  suppose  that  when  Paul 
left  Timothy  at  Ephesus,  he  summoned  the  Ephesian  Church,  and 
with  some  such  service  as  is  described  in  Acts  xiii.  2,  the  prophets, 
speaking  in  the  Spirit,  caused  the  elders  of  Ephesus  to  lay  their 
hands  on  Timothy's  head,  to  ordain  him  for  work  in  that  church 
(cf.  Acts  xiii.  3).  Riggenbach  thinks  that  the  laying  on  of  hands 
could  not  have  been  that  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ephesus,  because 
that  would  have  put  Timothy  under  them  instead  of  placing  him 
over  them.  To  this  it  is  enough  to  reply  by  a  question  :  Did  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  elders  at  Antioch  (Acts  xiii.  3)  put 
Paul  and  Barnabas  wider  those  obscure  local  officers  ?  The 
objection  springs  from  not  realizing  the  autonomy  of  the  individual 
congregation,  and  its  Divine  rights  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit,  as  they  were  exercised  in  the  apostolic  churches. 

It  is  quite  likely,  considering  the  charged  and  inspired  atmo- 
sphere of  those  apostolic  churches,  that  prophecies  came  on  both 
occasions,  both  at  Lystra,  when  Paul  first  took  Timothy  as  his 
companion,  and  at  Ephesus,  when  he  left  him  as  his  representative. 
But  what  is  harder  to  believe  is,  that  if  there  had  been  only  one 
solemn  occasion,  corresponding  to  what  is  now  called  ordination, 
when  Paul  and  the  elders  of  Lystra  laid  their  hands  on  Timothy's 
head,  Paul  would  years  after  refer  to  it  now  as  '  the  laying  on 
of  my  hands '  and  now  '  as  the  laying-on  of  the  hands  of  the 
presbytery.' 

Dr.  Bernard  finds  difficulty  in  such  a  supposition  because  he 
assumes  that  ordination  in  the  time  of  Paul  must  have  been  what 
it  is  in  the  Church  of  England  to-day.  But,  as  Hort  reminds  us, 
the  charisma  was  not  an  inalienable  office,  like  ordination  (once 
a  priest  always  a  priest),  but  an  actual  Divine  gift  of  the  Spirit, 
given  for  definite  Christian  work,  and  liable  to  die  out  if  it  was 
neglected  and  not  fanned  into  flame.  (See  Acts  vi.  6,  viii.  17,  18, 
ix.  17,  xiii.  3,  xix.  5  ;  i  Tim.  v.  22.) 

15.  The  word  translated  be  diligent  might  mean  also  to  '  read,' 
'meditate,'  'practise.' 

progress.  In  2  Tim.  ii.  16,  iii.  9-13,  the  verb  occurs  as  in 
the  phrase  '  The  Rake's  progress,'  to  signify  the  opposite  direction 
of  the  Pilgrim's  progress.  This  whole  verse  certainly  implies 
that  in  Timothy  there  was  much  room  for  improvement :  cf.  2  Tim. 
i.  6. 

^  *  Be  diligent ' :  a  word  used  by  Paul  only  here. 


I  TIMOTHY  5.   I  123 

to  thyself\  and  to  thy  teaching.  Continue  in  these 
things  :  for  in  doing  this  thou  shalt  save  both  thyself  and 
them  that  hear  thee  ^ 

Rebuke  ^  not  an  elder,  but  exhort  him  as  a  father ;  the  5 

16.  these  thing's  should  be  simply  'them';  viz.  to  be  an 
example  in  word  and  life  ;  to  be  occupied  in  reading,  preaching, 
and  teaching  ;  to  develop  the  charisma  ;  to  meditate  ;  to  be  whole- 
hearted ;  to  be  careful  of  his  own  character  and  of  his  teaching. 
Then,  regarding  all  these  things  as  one  concentrated  aim,  Paul 
adds,  'by  doing  this  thou  wilt  save  thyself  and  thy  hearers.' 

Some  points  in  the  fourth  chapter  deserve  a  special  consideration  : 
(i)    The  decisive  judgement  against  asceticistn,  which,  in  spite  of 
this   express  warning,   still   holds  its  own   in    the   church,   and 
poisons  the  natural  joy  and  thankfulness  of  the  redeemed. 

(2)  The  gymnastic  of  godUness  is  entirely  a  spiritual  exercise, 
depending  on  faith  and  the  use  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel. 
Physical  mortifications  have  no  religious  effect  on  the  soul.  But 
the  soul  is  best  fitted  for  its  right  spiritual  relations  when  the 
body  is  as  far  as  possible  in  a  normally  healthy  condition.  The 
fasting  of  the  Christian  life  is  the  abstinence  which  secures,  not 
that  which  injures,  health. 

(3)  The  most  important  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
If  Timothy  is  not  a  diocesan  bishop,  there  is  no  such  office  in  the 
N,  T.  If  Timothy  is  not  a  priest,  there  is  no  priest  in  the  N.T. 
What  are  his  functions  ?  Are  they  sacramental?  Do  they  lie  in  the 
offering  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  or  in  the  discipline  of  the 
confessional?  Is  the  power  of  'creating  his  Creator,'  or  that  of 
absolving  penitents,  the  gift  that  was  imparted  to  him  by  the 
lajMng  on  of  hands  ?  Of  these  things  there  is  no  trace.  His  gift  is 
exercised  in  (i)  reading,  (2)  exhortation,  (3)  teaching,  i.e.  in  such 
a  ministry  as  is  universally  recognized  in  all  Evangelical  churches. 

IV.  Certain  directions  for  the  pastor  in  relation  with  his 
flock,     v,  vi. 

Chap.  v.  Timothy's  relations  with  certain  classes  in  the  church: 
(i)  persons  of  different  age  and  sex  {i,  2).  (2)  Widows;  their  main- 
tenance ;  their  formation  into  an  order  (3-16).      (3^  Elders  (17-25). 

1.  The  word  employed  for  rebuke  implies  the  kind  of  reproof 

^  ''  take  heed  to  thyself ' :  an  expression  in  the  Greek  only  found 
here, 

^  '  them  that  hear  thee  '  :  a  phrase  not  found  elsewhere  in  Paul, 
but  often  in  Luke. 

^  '  Rebuke  '  :   a  word  found  only  here  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


124  I  TIMOTHY  5.  2-4 

2  younger  men  as  brethren  :  the  elder  women  as  mothers ; 

3  the  younger  as  sisters,  in  all  purity.     Honour  widows 

4  that  are  widows  indeed.     But  if  any  widow  hath  children 

which  is  only  suitable  in  a  man  speaking  to  his  juniors.  An 
elder  man  is  to  be  treated  with  respect  as  a  father.  The  strange 
assumption  by  which  a  priest,  however  young,  claims  to  be  a 
Father  was  unknown  to  Paul,  and  implicitly  forbidden. 

2.  the  younger  as  sisters.  Titus  (ii.  6  is  to  hand  over  the 
charge  of  the  young  women  to  the  elder.  Probably  Paul  knew 
well  the  relative  susceptibility  of  his  two  lieutenants. 

3.  Honour  widows  that  are  widows  indeed.  This  difficult 
passage  may  be  illustrated  from  Acts  vi.  i,  where,  it  appears,  the 
church  at  once  recognized  its  duty  to  aid  genuine  Avidows  with 
alms,  and  from  Acts  ix.  39,  where  it  seems  to  be  implied  that 
certain  widows  were  appointed  by  the  church  to  perform  acts  of 
charity.  Verses  3-8  refer  to  the  widows  who  were  objects  of  the 
church's  charity.  Verses  9-16  pass  on  to  treat  of  the  widows 
who  were  employed  in  the  church's  work. 

When  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff  say,  '  This  necessarily  supposes 
that  this  institution  of  widows  of  the  church  had  been  in  existence 
for  some  time,  and  so  points  to  a  period  pretty  late  in  the  second 
century,'  they  seem  to  forget  these  indications  in  Acts,  and  also 
that  an  institution  flourishing  in  the  second  century  might 
have  its  germs  in  the  first.  That  we  have  no  more  than  the 
germs  here,  is  suggested  by  the  obscurity  in  which  the  passage 
is  involved.  Riggenbach  even  questions  whether  there  is  a 
mention  of  an  order  of  church  widows  at  all.  But  in  this  he  is 
opposed  to  the  Fathers,  and  to  most  other  commentators.  The 
honour  to  be  shewn  to  genuine  widows,  i.e.  women  who  had  no 
relatives  to  help  them,  is  the  honour  due  to  all  loneliness,  sorrow, 
and  necessity :  cf.  James  i.  27.  It  would  bring  in  its  train 
practical  relief.  But  the  word  has  not  yet  the  later  meaning  of 
'maintain.'  If  a  widow  has  children  or  other  descendants,  verse 
4  goes  on  to  say  she  is  not  '  a  widow  indeed,'  for  it  is  the  duty  of 
these,  her  descendants,  to  shew  piety  to  their  own  house,  and  to 
requite  their  progenitors  ;  such  filial  offices  are  acceptable  to  God. 

As  Riggenbach  well  puts  it :  '  For  widows  who  were  absolutely 
forlorn  and  forsaken,  the  church  community  takes  the  place  of 
relatives.  And  as  the  church  does  for  the  widow  what  relatives 
would  have  done,  there  is  a  corresponding  obligation  for  the 
widow  to  do  for  the  church  what  she  would  have  done  for 
relatives  if  she  had  possessed  any.'  {Kurzgefasster  Commentary 
in  loc.) 

4.  Timothj^'s  debt  to  his  mother  and  grandmother  (2  Tim.  i.  5) 
would  give  him  light  in  dealing  with  this  question. 


I  TIMOTHY  5.  5-9  125 

or  grandchildren ',  let  them    learn   first   to  shew   piety 
towards  their  own  family,  and  to  requite  *  their  parents  - : 
for  this  is  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God.     Now  she  5 
that  is  a  widow  indeed,  and  desolate,  hath  her  hope  set 
on  God,  and  continueth  in  supplications  and  prayers 
night  and  day.     But  she  that  giveth  herself  to  pleasure  6 
is  dead  while  she  liveth.     These  things  also  command,  7 
that  they  may  be  without  reproach.     But  if  any  provideth  8 
not  for  his  own,  and  specially  his  own  household,  he 
hath  denied  ^  the  faith,  and  is  worse  ^  than  an  unbeliever. 
Let  none  be  enrolled  *  as  a  widow  under  threescore  years  9 

5.  The  widow  indeed  must,  however,  not  only  be  destitute  of 
support ;  she  must  also  have  fixed  her  hope  on  God,  and  must  be 
occupied  constantly  in  prayer,  Hke  Anna  (Lukeii.  37),  if  she  is  to 
be  taken  into  this  intimate  relationship  with  the  church. 

6.  A  gay  and  giddy  widow  is  not  fit  for  church  aid.  Living- 
she  is  dead  (cf.  Rom.  vii.  10,  24;  Eph.  iv.  18;  also  note  the 
expression  Rev.  iii.  i),  and  is  outside  the  community  of  the  church 
(cf.  Tit.  iii.  10);  the  church  regards  her  as  if  she  were  not. 

7.  These  things  .  .  .  command:  i.e.  he  is  to  explain  these 
conditions  of  being  'widows  indeed,'  that  the  women  who  lay 
claim  to  the  church's  help  may  escape  the  reproach  of  failing  in 
the  conditions. 

8.  if  any  provideth  not.  This  goes  back  to  verse  4.  If  a 
child  or  grandchild  refuses  to  help  a  widow,  whether  mother  or 
grandmother,  he  is  worse  than  an  unbeliever.  That  his  care  of 
helpless  forbears  is  part  of  the  faith  appears  from  Matt,  xv.  5. 
That  one  who  neglects  it  is  worse  than  an  unbeliever  is  illustrated 
by  the  reverence  to  parents  among  the  Chinese.  Such  reverence 
is  a  part  of  natural  religion  ;  it  would  be  monstrous  if  the  new 
and  better  faith  obliterated  a  virtue  which  was  recognized  before 
it  came.  The  Essenes,  who,  we  suppose,  loom  constantly  before 
the  writer's  mind,  were  not  allowed  to  give  relief  to  their  relatives 
without  the  permission  of  their  directors. 

Now  we  pass  to  the  widows  who  were  enrolled  as  church 
servants  (9-16). 

9.  From  Titus  ii.  1-5  we  may  gather  one  of  the  duties  of  these 

^  'grandchildren,'  'requite':  both  words  only  found  here  in  the  N.T. 
'  'parents'  :  only  here  and  at  2  Tim.  i.  3. 

"  '  denied  '  and  '  worse  '  are  both  words  not  used  elsewhere  by  Paul. 
*  'enrolled.'     The  word  used  is  found  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


126  I  TIMOTHY    5.  10-12 

10  old,  having  been  the  wife  of  one  man,  well  reported  of 
for  good  works  ;  if  she  hath  brought  up  children  \  if  she 
hath  used  hospitality  to  strangers  \  if  she  hath  washed 
the  saints'  feet,  if  she  hath  relieved  ^  the  afflicted,  if  she 

11  hath  diligently  followed  every  good  work.  But  younger 
widows  refuse :  for  when  they  have  waxed  wanton  ^  against 

12  Christ,    they   desire    to   marry;    having   condemnation, 

elderly  women  who  were  appointed  church  officers.  Here  wc 
only  learn  the  qualification  in  addition  to  those  of '  widows  indeed ' 
which  were  indispensable  for  enrolment  in  the  order.  They  must 
be  over  sixty ;  they  must  have  lived  with  one  husband ;  they 
must  have  been  active  in  good  works. 

The  order  of  widows  thus  instituted  by  Paul  played  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  sub-apostolic  age.  They  were  maintained 
by  the  church  ;  and  in  return  served  it  by  instant  prayer  and 
works  of  charity.  Polycarp  describes  them  as  *  an  altar  of  God  ' 
because  of  their  continual  prayers.  Ignatius  implies  that  in  his 
time  even  virgins  were  admitted  to  the  order  of '  widows.'  Later  on 
the  widows  were  merged  in  the  deaconesses,  and  the  Theodosian 
Code  required  that  the  age  limit  set  by  Paul  for  the  widows 
should  be  enforced  for  the  deaconesses. 

wife  of  one  man  (cf.  lii.  2) :  i.e.  that  she  had  been  a  faithful 
wife  before  her  widowhood. 

10.  washed  the  saints'  feet:  Luke  vii.  38;  John  xiii.  14; 
saints  =  Christians,  Rom.  i.  7,  xvi.  2. 

11.  younger  widows  refuse  (for  'refuse'  see  iv.  7 ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  23  ;  Titus  iii.  10  ;  Heb.  xii.  25)  :  viz.  from  the  register  of 
church  widows,  not  in  opposition  to  the  'honour'  in  verse  3,  but 
to  the  enrolment  in  verse  9. 

waxed  wanton.  The  metaphor  is  that  of  a  heifer  trying  to 
free  itself  from  the  yoke,  here  'Christ's  mild  yoke.* 

12.  having*  condemnation.  If  they  had  not  been  enrolled  in 
the  list  of  church  widows  they  might  marry  without  condemnation, 
see  verse  14.  But  to  leave  that  high  calling  to  marry  again 
would  be  rejecting  their  first  faith,  viz.  that  choice  of,  and 
dedication  to,  Christ's  service  in  a  particular  form.  The  con- 
demnation meant  is  probably  only  that  of  the  community. 

^  *  brought  up  children,'  *  used  hospitality  to  strangers '  :  these 
phrases  translate  two  Greek  words  which  occur  only  here  in  the  Greek 
Bible. 

'  *  relieved  ':  a  word  only  here  and  at  verse  16. 

^  '  waxed  wanton  '  :  a  word  only  found  here.  (Cf.  Rev.  xviil.  9,  the 
verb  not  in  a  compound.) 


I.  TIMOTHY  5.  13-16  127 

because  they  have  rejected  their  first  faith.     And  withal  13 
they  learn  also  to  be  idle  \  going  about  from  house  to 
house ;    and  not  only  idle,  but  tattlers  ^  also  and  busy- 
bodies  ^,  speaking  things  which  they  ought  not.     I  desire  14 
therefore  that  the  younger  widows  marry,  bear  children ', 
rule  the  household  ^,  give  none  occasion  to  the  adversary 
for  reviling^:    for  already  some  are  turned  aside  after  15 
Satan.     If  any  woman  that  believeth  hath  widows,  let  16 

13.  they  learn.  .  .  to  be  idle.  Von  Soden,  in  the  Hand-Com- 
nientar,  will  not  allow  the  admissibility  of  this  rendering,  thougli 
a  doubtful  quotation  from  Chrysostom,  '  if  thou  wert  going  to  learn 
to  be  a  physician/  gives  it  some  slight  support.  The  alternative  is, 
by  a  rather  strained  construction,  to  find  the  object  in  the  'things 
that  they  ought  not.'  In  this  case  the  second  reason  for  not 
having  younger  women  as  church  widows  is,  that  'being  idle 
they  learn,  by  going  round  to  the  houses — and  not  only  being  idle, 
but  also  tattlers  and  busybodies  and  talking — things  which  they 
ought  not.'  This  mischief  done  in  the  houses  by  young  widows 
corresponds  to  that  done  in  the  same  place  by  the  hetero- 
teachers  (2  Tim.  iii.  6  ;  Titus  i.  11). 

15.  already  some  are  turned  aside.  In  this  statement  is  found 
a  certain  relief  to  the  apparent  harshness  of  Paul's  judgement  on 
young  widows.  He  had  his  eye  on  particular  instances,  possibly 
at  Ephesus,  and  after  his  manner  he  rises  from  particular  instances 
to  general  rules  in  preference  to  constructing  general  rules  a  priori. 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  peculiar  circumstances  in  that  cor- 
rupt Ionian  city  made  it  necessary  to  warn  Timothy  against  the 
introduction  of  younger  women  into  the  church  order.  Paul's 
view  of  marriage  on  the  practical  side  generally  tends  to  be  a 
concession  to  the  less  of  two  evils;  our  verse  here  is  quite  an 
echo  of  the  longer  counsel  in  i  Cor.  vii.  He  only  becomes  an 
enthusiast  for  marriage  when  he  gets  a  glimpse  of  its  prototype 
in  the  union  between  Christ  and  the  church,  or  when  heretics 
forbid  it  (iv,  3). 

16.  If  any  woman  that  believeth.  This  is  an  afterthought  on 
review  of  all  that  has  been  said  about  widows  since  verse  9,  to 

^  '  idle,'  '  tattlers ' :  two  words  used  only  here,  and  the  former  in 
a  LXX  quotation  (Titus  i.  12)  in  the  N.  T. 

^  '  busybodies ' :  a  word  used  only  here  by  Paul. 

^  'bear  children,'  'rule  the  household,'  'reviling':  three  words 
which  are  not  used  elsewhere  by  Paul. 


128  I  TIMOTHY  5.  17,  18 

her  relieve  them,  and  let  not  the  church  be  burdened ; 
that  it  may  relieve  them  that  are  widows  indeed. 

17  Let  the  elders  that  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of 
double  honour,  especially  those  who  labour  in  the  word 

18  and  in  teaching.     For  the  scripture  saith,  Thou  shalt  not 
muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn.     And, 

direct  that  a  widow,  even  enrolled  in  the  order,  should  still  be 
maintained  by  relatives  if  they  were  able.  The  T.  R.  here, 
though  MSS.  evidence  weighs  against  it,  *if  any  man  or  woman 
that  believes,'  seems  to  add  a  necessary  word.  For  it  does  not 
appear  why  a  woman,  any  more  than  a  man,  should  be  responsible 
for  relatives  who  were  widows,  to  save  them  from  coming  on  the 
funds  of  the  church.  And  the  omitted  words  might  easily  have 
dropped  out,  because  careless  copyists  were  under  the  impression 
that  the  whole  passage  is  about  women,  and  did  not  notice  that  in 
this  little  postscript  Paul  wished  to  say  that  not  only  children  and 
grandchildren,  as  in  verse  4,  but  any  relative,  male  or  female,  who 
was  a  believer,  should  accept  the  responsibility  of  maintenance  for 
widowed  relatives,  and  not  burden  the  church. 

1*7.  the  elders  that  rule  well.  This  is  a  very  interesting 
verse  for  shewing  how  the  elder  in  age  (see  v.  1)  is  related  to  the 
elder  in  office,  who  had  hitherto  in  this  Epistle  been  called 
'overseer,'  except  in  iii.  14.  We  seem  to  see  the  general  word 
acquiring  its  specific  meaning.  And  this  is  far  more  marked  in 
the  order  of  the  words  in  the  Greek  than  in  our  version.  It  is  : 
*  Let  the  good-ruling  elders  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honour' 
(cf.  I  Thess.  V.  12).  An  elder  man  as  such  was  to  be  honoured 
(v.  i),  but  if  he  was  called  to  the  office  of  ruling  the  church, 
a  double  honour  was  due  to  him  (see  Hort,  Ecclesia,  196).  In 
the  board,  or  presbytery,  the  teaching  elders  might  claim  a 
special  reverence.  As  late  as  the  second  century,  Cyprian 
(^Ep.  xxix)  still  distinguished  the  *  teaching  elders'  from  the 
rest.  Gradually  the  distinction  ceased,  as  presbyters  became 
priests,  and  they  thought  no  more  of  teaching  but  only  of 
ruling. 

those  who  labour  :  a  stress  on  the  word,  meaning  more  than 
simply  'work.' 

The  importance  attached  to  the  teaching  function  of  the  elders 
in  the  Pastorals  (cf.  iii.  2  ;  Titus  i.  9)  is  due  no  doubt  to  the  false 
teaching  which  was  so  rife  in  the  churches  affected. 

18.  the  scripture  saith:  Paul's  way  of  quoting  the  O.T.  (Rom. 
iv.  3  ;  xi.  2 ;  Gal.  iv.  30.)  He  quoted  this  passage  (Deut.  xxv.  4) 
in  I  Cor.  ix.  9. 


I  TIMOTHY  5.  19-22  129 

The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.     Against  an  elder  19 
receive  not  an  accusation  \  except  at  the  motith  ofXyjo  or 
three  witnesses.     Them  that  sin  reprove  in  the  sight  of  20 
all,  that  the  rest  also  may  be  in  fear.     I  charge  thee  in  21 
the  sight  of  God,  and  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  elect  angels, 
that  thou  observe  these  things  without  prejudice'^,  doing 
nothing  by  partiality^.     Lay  hands  hastily  on  no  man,  22 

The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  This  is  not  Scripture, 
though  the  principle  might  be  found  in  Lev.  xix.  13  ;  Deut.  xxiv. 
14.  But,  after  quoting  Scripture,  Paul  adds  a  proverbial  saying, 
which  also  our  Lord  once  cited  (Luke  x.  7  ;  Matt.  x.  10).  It  is 
quite  gratuitous  to  say  that  Paul  is  quoting  the  Gospel  of  Luke  as 
'  Scripture/  and  then  to  use  the  statement  to  shew  that  it  cannot 
be  Paul,  but  a  late  second-century  writer,  who  thus  places  the 
Gospels  on  a  level  with  the  canonical  Scriptures.  Weiss,  however, 
thinks  that  it  may  be  a  saying  of  the  Lord  orally  reported,  which 
is  by  a  zeugma  coupled  with  Scripture. 

19.  The  rule  is  that  of  Deut.  xix.  15  (cf.  2  Cor.  xiii.  i ;  John 
viii.  17  ;  Heb.  x.  28). 

20.  Them  that  sin :  sc.  elders,  in  contrast  with  the  *  good- 
ruling  '  elders.  The  '  all '  would  then  be  the  rest  of  the  presby- 
tery, not  the  whole  church. 

21.  I  (solemnly)  charg'e  thee.  This  verse  is  a  kind  of  paren- 
thesis, thrown  in  as  Paul  realizes  the  awful  responsibility  of 
judicial  functions  in  the  church. 

the . . .  angels:  cf.  Luke  ix,  26.  In  the  Testament  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs  occurs  the  formula,  *  the  Lord  is  witness  and  his  angels 
are  witnesses.'  Another  apocalyptic  book,  Enoch  xxxix.  i,  has  the 
phrase  'elect  angels.'  Paul  uses  it  probably  to  express  those 
angels  who  are  chosen  to  minister  to  the  heirs  of  salvation,  or 
those  who  are  commissioned  to  be  present  at  each  church  service 
(i  Cor.  xi.  10). 

22.  Lay  hands  hastily.  Paul  returns  to  the  relations  of 
Timothy  with  presbyters.  For  laying  on  of  hands  see  iv.  14.  He 
was  not  to  make  any  elder  a  presbyter  without  due  consideration, 
and  so  to  be  partaker  of  the  sin  of  an  unworthy  minister.  It  has 
been  thought  that  '  lay  hands  on '  may  be  equivalent  to  '  rebuke  ' 
of  verse  i.     If  only  the  usage  of  the  Pastorals  and  the  linguistic 

*  'Against  an  elder  receive  not  an  accusation.'  Both  words,*  receive' 
and  '  accusation,'  are  confined  to  the  Pastorals  among  Paul's  letters. 

'*  *  prejudice,'  *  partiality.'  Both  words  not  found  elsewhere  in  the 
Greek  Bible. 

K 


I30  I  TIMOTHY   5.  23,  24 

neither  be  partaker  of  other  men's  sins  :   keep  thyself 

23  pure.  Be  no  longer  a  drinker  of  water  \  but  use  a  little 
wine  for  thy  stomach's  "^  sake  and  thine  often  ^  infirmities. 

24  Some  men's  sins  are  evident  *,  going  before  unto  judge- 
possibilities  admitted  this,  it  would  relieve  the  rather  disjointed 
effect  of  the  injunctions,  and  connect  verse  22  closely  with  verse 
20.  One  instance  of  avoiding  prejudice  and  partiality  would  be 
found  in  *  being  slow  to  lay  the  hand  of  judgement  on  an  elder 
even  if  there  were  presumptive  evidence  of  guilt.'  On  the  other 
hand  a  warning  would  be  necessary  against  becoming  responsible, 
by  undue  leniency,  for  the  sins  of  the  guilty  officials.  This 
interpretation  is  tempting ;  for  it  must  be  owned  the  sudden 
introduction  of  ordination  at  verse  22  is  bewildering.  But  the 
*  laying  on  of  hands '  can  hardly  support  this  meaning ;  and  the 
disjointedness  is  the  characteristic  of  the  passage,  as  the  next 
sentence  shews. 

Hort  {Ecchsia,  p.  215)  agrees  with  Ellicott  in  regarding  this 
imposition  of  hands  as  '  the  act  of  blessing  by  which  penitents 
were  received  back  into  the  communion  of  the  faithful '  (cf.  2  Cor. 
ii.  6.  f.).  Hort  maintains  that  there  is  no  instance  in  the  N.  T.  of 
elders  or  bishops  being  ordained  by  laying-on  of  hands.  The  text 
here,  however,  affords  such  an  instance  if  we  accept  the  commonly 
received  meaning. 

keep  thyself  pure  more  naturally  connects  itself  with  what 
follows  than  with  what  precedes.  The  call  to  purity  is  probably 
suggested  by  the  directions  about  women  in  verses  11-15.  A 
man  in  the  prime  of  life,  no  less  than  a  novice,  only  too  often  falls 
in  his  relation  with  women  in  the  church.  And  unless  purity  has 
become  a  positive  and  trained  force  in  his  life  (cf.  iv.  12)  the 
temptation  may  easily  be  overwhelming. 

23.  This  injunction  against  total  abstinence  is  an  offence  to 
many,  and  it  led  Kingsley  to  resist  the  total  abstinence  movement 
as  a  new  Manicheism.  But  it  should  be  remembered  (i)  that  the 
Essenes,  on  whom  the  hetero-teachers  leaned,  were  total  abstainers 
(cf.  iv.  3);  and  (2)  the  ^  no  longer*  implies  that  Timothy  was  an 
abstainer  up  to  that  point ;  and  he  may  have  based  his  abstinence 
on  a  weak  submission  to  the  Essene  principle.  (3)  The  very 
injunction  of  Paul  implies  that  he  regarded  wine  as  a  medicine 
for  the  infirm,  and  not  as  a  beverage  for  the  strong. 

*  '  drinker  of  water.'  The  Greek  word  occurs  only  here  in  the 
N.T. 

^  *  stomach.'     The  Greek  word  occurs  onlj'  here  in  the  Bible. 
"  'often.'     The  word  not  used  otherwise  by  Paul. 

*  'evident '  :   a  word  not  elsewhere  used  by  Paul. 


I  TIMOTHY  5.  25  131 

ment;   and  some  men  also  they  follow  after.     In  like  : 
manner  also  there  are  good  works  that  are  evident ;  and 
such  as  are  otherwise  cannot  be  hid. 

24.  Some  men's  sins  are  evident.  Paul  goes  back  from  the 
personal  recommendation  to  the  judicial  position  of  Timothy  among 
the  presbyters,  quite  in  the  fashion  of  a  letter-writer  who  allows 
himself  to  throw  in  thoughts  as  they  occur  without  regard  to 
logical  connexion.  In  judging  offenders  one  can  only  escape 
hasty  misjudgement  by  remembering  that  some  sins  are  flagrant, 
and  arrive  at  the  judgement-seat,  as  it  were,  before  the  culprit 
himself;  others  are  only  found,  lagging  behind,  when  the  culprit 
has  been  examined. 

25.  And  then  Paul  adds  a  reflection,  which  may  aid  a  judge, 
*  the  good  works  are  also  sometimes  quite  evident,*  and  therefore 
make  a  favourable  impression  on  the  bench.  And,  for  one's 
comfort  be  it  said,  though  as  a  warning  to  hasty  judgement,  if 
they  are  not  evident  at  first  sight,  yet  in  the  end  they  shine  by 
their  inner  light  and  cannot  be  hid. 

In  chap.  v.  the  most  interesting  questions  are  raised  by  the 
ghmpse  which  is  obtained  into  the  organization  of  the  early 
church,  before  the  plastic  material  had  become  stereotyped.  We 
seem  to  see  how  the  older  men  were  set  aside  to  manage  the 
church,  were  spoken  of  as  the  elders,  and  became  an  'order*  of 
ministry  as  the  body  of  elders  or  the  presbytery.  At  verse  i  the 
word  means  simply  the  older  men;  at  verse  17  the  same  word 
means  the  presbyters.  The  position  of  Timothy  in  relation  to 
the  elders,  displayed  in  verses  17-25,  can  only  be  understood 
by  remembering  that  he  was  in  Ephesus  as  the  representative 
of  Paul.  The  modesty  of  demeanour,  and  the  scrupulous  care 
for  justice,  which  are  enjoined  upon  him  by  his  master,  are 
qualities  which  certainly  might  be  expected,  but  have  not 
historically  always  been  found,  in  diocesan  bishops.  Indeed,  the 
difference  between  Timothy's  position  and  that  of  a  bishop  is 
fundamental.  A  bishop  stands  as  the  essential  element  of  the 
ecclesiastical  structure  :  his  authority  is  ex  officio^  monarchical. 
Divine  ;  he  is  spoken  of  in  terms  which  are  applied  only  to 
sovereigns  or  the  high  nobility.  Timothy,  on  the  other  hand, 
stands  outside  the  church  constitution,  a  temporary  delegate, 
discharging  a  special  task  of  organization  and  direction.  He  may 
not  '  rebuke  an  elder.*  He,  so  far  from  making  assumption  of 
superiority,  has  to  take  care  that  he  is  not  despised.  His 
authority  is  moral,  and  rests  on  his  being  an  example  of  the 
virtues  which  he  commends  (iv.  12). 

Again,  in  this  chapter  we  observe  the  perfectly  natural  origin 
of  church  widows.     '  The  first  care  of  the  church  was  to  provide 

K   2 


132  I  TIMOTHY   6.  i 

6      Let  as  many  as  are  servants  under  the  yoke  count 
their  own  masters  ^  worthy  of  all  honour,  that  the  name  of 

for  the  wants  of  the  widows,'  says  Lightfoot  in  his  commentary 
on  Ignatius,  ad  Smyrnxos  xiii,  'The  next  step  was  to  impose 
upon  them  such  duties  as  they  were  able  to  perform  in  return 
for  their  maintenance,  e.  g.  care  of  orphans,  nursing  of  the  sick, 
visiting  of  prisoners,  Sec.  Hence  they  were  enrolled  in  an  order, 
which,  however,  did  not  include  all  who  received  the  alms  of  the 
church.'  One  must  distinguish  the  church  widows  from  the 
deaconesses  (iii.  ii),  but  we  are  not  able  to  determine  the  separate 
functions  of  the  two  orders.  The  passage  on  which  Lightfoot 
is  commenting  shews  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  century 
the  widows  were  dignified  by  the  honourable  title  of  virgins ; 
and  later  in  the  century,  it  would  appear  from  Tertullian,  de 
Pudicitia,  13,  that  they  were  treated  with  the  same  reverence 
as  presbyters.  The  age  regulation  was  a  little  relaxed,  though 
Tertullian  was  greatly  scandalized  that  a  virgin  under  twenty 
should  have  been  admitted  into  the  order.  After  the  second 
century  the  order  gradually  declined,  and  finally  disappeared 
from  the  church,  as  the  presbyters,  in  the  apostolic  sense,  and 
the  deaconesses  disappeared. 

But  probably  in  the  organization  of  the  early  church  depicted 
in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  lie  suggestions  by  which  the  church  may 
be  reformed  and  restored  and  started  on  a  new  career  of  progress 
and  victory. 

Chap.  vi.  The  status  of  slaves  in  the  church  (i,  2)  ;  and  then 
an  epilogue,  in  which  Paul  reverts  to  the  hetero-teachers  (3-5), 
and  that  leads  him  to  point  out  the  perils  of  wealth  (6-1 1),  and 
to  give  Timothy  a  fresh  exhortation  to  escape  these  perils  himself 
(11 -16),  and  to  save  rich  men  from  them  (17-19).  And  with  one 
closing  exhortation  to  Timothy  by  name,  and  a  benediction,  the 
letter  ends. 

1.  slaves.  After  discussing  different  ages  and  the  church 
orders,  one  special  class  demands  attention,  that  class  which,  in 
the  eyes  of  antiquity,  were  something  less  than  men,  but  by  the 
religion  of  Christ  had  been  raised  to  a  potential  equality  with 
their  more  fortunate  fellow  creatures.  Aristotle  taught  that  as 
an  implement  is  a  lifeless  slave,  so  a  slave  is  a  living  implement. 
Observe,  the  gospel  does  not  proclaim  the  natural  rights  of 
slaves  :  its  mode  of  liberation  is  different.  When  slaves  became 
Christian,  slavery  became  gradually  impossible.  In  Christ  Jesus 
there  is  neither  bond  nor  free.     As  uncle  Tom  made  slavery  in 

^  '  masters.'  The  word  used  here  is  by  Paul  only  used  in  the 
Pastorals  (2  Tim.  ii.  21 ;  Titus  ii.  9). 


I  TIMOTHY  6.  2,  3  133 

God  and  the  doctrine  be  not  blasphemed.     And  they  2 
that  have  beheving  masters,  let  them  not  despise  them, 
because  they  are  brethren ;  but  let  them  serve  them  the 
rather,  because  they  that  partake  of  the  benefit  are  believ- 
ing and  beloved.     These  things  teach  and  exhort. 

If  any  man  teacheth  a  different  doctrine,  and  con-  3 
senteth  not  ^  to  sound  words,  eveji  the  words  of  our  Lord 

America  intolerable,  so  in  the  early  church  slaves  that  were 
heirs  together  of  the  same  hope  as  their  masters  found  their 
fetters  wearing  thin. 

The  precepts  cover  two  cases  :  (i)  If  the  masters  were  pagan 
the  slaves  were  to  commend  their  religion  by  being  good  and 
respectful  servants.  (2)  If  on  the  other  hand  the  masters  were 
Christian,  and  master  and  slave  worshipped  together  in  the  same 
assembl}',  there  was  a  fear  that  the  slave,  with  the  sense  of 
emancipation,  would  become  insolent.  The  Christian  teacher 
therefore  bases  the  service  of  the  slave  on  the  brotherhood  (cf. 
Philem.  16;  Gal.  iii.  28  ;  Col.  iii.  11).  The  masters  are  to  partake 
of  the  benefits  which  a  faithful  slave  can  render,  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  in  the  slave's  eye  believers  and  beloved  (cf,  Eph.  vi. 
11).  Seneca  taught  that  a  slave  could  confer  benefits  on  his 
master  by  doing  anything  which  exceeded  what  was  demanded 
of  him.  Paul's  thought  is  similar.  A  Christian  slave  will,  give 
to  a  Christian  master  service  in  good  measure,  pressed  down 
and  running  over.  (This  is  the  practical  application  of  Gal.  iii. 
28  and  Col.  iii.  11.) 

That  a  slave  should  serve  for  love  and  not  for  fear  is  the 
revolution  wrought  by  the  gospel,  which  ultimately  abolishes 
slavery. 

2.  they  that  partake  :  a  word  not  used  in  the  Pauline  letters, 
but  found  in  a  Pauline  speech.  Acts  xx.  35. 

3.  If  any  man  teacheth  a  different  doctrine.  We  come  back 
to  the  hetero-teacher.  The  new  feature  added  is  that  the  motive 
of  the  different  teaching  is  to  make  money.  From  love  of  money 
spring  evils  of  every  kind,  and,  amongst  others,  that  kind  of 
speculative  and  contentious  teaching  against  which  Paul  inveighs. 
A  religion  which  feeds  self-conceit  and  gives  abundant  occasion 
of  quarrelling  is  for  fallen  man  one  which  he  will  gladly  support 
with  his  money.  The  religion  which  makes  him  humble,  enjoins 
love  and  forbids  strife,  is  not  one  which  is  profitable  to  its 
teachers  (cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  6;  Titus  i.  11). 

*  'consenteth  not' :  not  elsewhere  in  Paul. 


134  I   TIMOTHY  6.  4-7 

Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to 

4  godliness  ;  he  is  puffed  up,  knowing  nothing  \  but  doting* 
about   questionings   and   disputes    of  words  ^    whereof 

5  cometh  envy,  strife,  railings,  evil  surmisings*,  wranglings** 
of  men    corrupted  in   mind   and   bereft   of  the   truth, 

6  supposing  that  godliness  is  a  way  of  gain.     But  godliness 
1  with  contentment  is  great  gain " ;  for  we  brought  nothing 

into  the  world,  for  neither  can  we  carry  anything  out ; 

sound  words.     See  i,  10. 

the  words  of  our  Iiord  Jesus  Christ.  This  shews  the 
position  that  the  logia,  or  sayings,  of  Jesus,  took  from  the  earhest 
time  in  the  teaching  of  the  apostles. 

4.  puffed  up :  rather  as  in  iii.  6. 

dotingf :  rather,  as  in  the  margin,  *  sick '  in  contrast  with  the 
'healthful  words.' 

5.  corrupted  in  mind  and  bereft  of  the  truth.  This  ex- 
pression demands  a  moment's  reflection.  Mental  degeneration 
implies  missing  the  truth,  because  reason  and  understanding  are 
the  organs  by  which  truth  is  received.  But  mental  degeneration 
results  when  the  mind,  instead  of  being  directed  to  God  and 
exercised  in  His  revelation,  is  given  over  to  idle  questions  and  to 
empty  forms.  A  religion  which  stultifies  the  reason  and  demands 
a  blind  obedience  to  authority  will  occupy  its  adherents  and 
dupes  with  endless  petty  affairs  of  practice  or  belief,  which  hasten 
the  ruin  of  the  mind.  Then  truth  cannot  be  attained ;  and 
naturally  the  mind  declines  on  base  materialism,  such  as  the 
making  of  gain.  This  single  phrase  thus  illumines  the  whole 
course  of  a  corrupt  Christianity,  which  begins  with  destroying 
the  mind,  and  ends  with  emptying  the  pocket  of  its  misguided 
victims.  Godliness  has  become  a  way  of  gain  to  a  vast  corrupt 
priesthood  through  the  dark  ages  of  the  church. 

7.  we  brought  nothingr  into  this  world  because  we  can 
carry  nothing  out.  This  is  the  literal  translation  (cf.  Job  i.  21  ; 
Eccles.  V.  14).     The  idea  that  we  brought  nothing  into  the  world 

^  'knowing  nothing.'     This  word  not  elsewhere  in  Paul. 
'  'doting.'      The  word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  N.T. 
'  '  disputes  of  words '  :  not  elsewhere  in  Greek  Bible  (the  verb  in 
2  Tim.  ii.  14). 

*  'surmisings' :  nowhere  else  In  Greek  Bible. 

*  '  (incessant)  wranglings  ' :  nowhere  else  in  Greek  Bible. 

*  *  gain ' :  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


I  TIMOTHY  6.  8-1  r  135 

but  having  food  and  covering*  we  shall  be  therewith   8 
content.      But  they  that  desire  to  be  rich  fall  into  a   9 
temptation  and  a  snare  and  many  foolish  and  hurtfuP 
lusts,  such  as  drown  men  in  destruction  and  perdition. 
For  the  love  of  money  ^  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil :  10 
which  some  reaching  after  have  been  led  astray  from  the 
faith,  and  have  pierced  themselves  ^  through  with  many 
sorrows. 

But  thou,  O  man  of  God,  flee  these  things  ;  and  follow  n 

because  we  can  take  nothing  out  of  it,  which  the  syntax  requires 
as  the  meaning,  is  not  so  absurd  as  Dr.  Bernard  seems  to  think. 
It  is  a  reasonable  if  not  a  common  point  of  view  that  as  at  death 
we  are  obviously  unable  to  take  any  earthly  thing  away  with  us,  it 
would  have  been  useless — and  disturbing  to  the  balance  of  things — 
if  at  our  coming  into  the  world  we  brought  anything  with  us. 
At  the  same  time  it  would  be  simpler,  with  Hort,  to  suppose  that 
'  because '  is  an  intrusion.  In  certain  versions  it  does  not  occur, 
'we  brought  nothing  in,  &c.,  neither  can  we,  &c.* 

8.  we  shall  be  .  .  .  content :  of  course  only  so  far  as  material 
things  are  concerned  :  cf.  Matt.  vi.  25. 

9.  they  that  desire  to  be  rich.  This  might  be  a  quotation 
from  Seneca  {Ep.  87),  'while  we  wish  to  gain  riches  we  fall  into 
many  evils.'  But  the  statement  is  a  truism.  Dr.  Bernard  thinks 
it  is  not  the  possession,  but  the  desire,  of  riches  which  brings 
a  snare.  But  if  Paul  knew  Luke  xii.  21  he  would  hardly  agree 
with  this  view ;  and  therefore  the  stress  is  not  to  be  laid  on  the 
desiring. 

10.  which  some  reaching*  after.  The  'which  '  grammatically 
is  the  love  of  money  :  it  is  a  rather  slipshod  expression  ;  they 
reach  after  the  money  rather  than  the  love  of  it.  (It  is  after 
Paul's  manner,  however,  e.  g.  'a  hope  seen,'  Rom.  viii.  24.) 

Now,  in  contrast  with  the  hetero-teachers,  whose  work  turns 
on  the  pivot  of  money,  the  man  of  God  is  exhorted  to  teach  the 
healthful  doctrine  (11-16). 

11.  man  of  God.     Cf.  2  Tim.  iii.  17.     A  man  removed  from 

^  'food  and  covering.'  The  former  a  word  only  found  in  i  Mace. 
vi.  49,  and  the  latter  not  at  all  in  the  Greek  Bible. 

*  *  hurtful '  :   a  word  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Testament. 
^  *  love  of  money  ' :  a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T.,  but  the  adjective 

in  2  Tim.  iii.  2. 

*  *  pierced  themselves ' :  only  here  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


136  I  TIMOTHY  6.  12-14 

after    righteousness,    godluiess,    faith,    love,    patience, 

1 1  meekness  \    Fight  the  good  fight  of  the  faith,  lay  hold  on  '^ 

the  life  eternal,  whereunto  thou  wast  called,  and  didst 

confess    the   good    confession    in    the    sight    of   many 

13  witnesses.      I  charge  thee  in  the  sight   of  God,    who 
quickeneth  ^  all  things,  and  of  Christ  Jesus,  who  before 

14  Pontius  Pilate  witnessed  the  good  confession  ;  that  thou 
keep  the  commandment,  without  spot  ^  without  reproach, 

earthly  things,  is  Bengel's  explanation.  The  term  identifies  the 
evangelist  with  the  old  prophets  (i  Sam.  ii.  27,  ix.  6  ;  i  Kings  xii. 
22)  and  hints  that  all  Christians  should  deserve  the  title. 

12.  Pig-ht  the  g-ood  fight  of  . .  .  faith.  It  is  not  so  warlike  as 
it  sounds,  or  as  i.  18.  For  the  word  means  the  contest  of  the 
great  games,  Olympian  or  Isthmian.  And  the  image  is  a  favourite 
one  with  Philo  as  well  as  with  Paul  (i  Cor.  ix.  24  ;  Phil.  iii.  12-T4  ; 
2  Tim.  iv.  7).  There  is  a  line  in  the  Alcestis  of  Euripides,  from 
which  Paul  might  have  been  quoting,  'And  3'et  thou  wouldst 
have  fought  this  good  fight.'  For  the  fight  of  faith  see  i.  19 :  it 
means  perhaps  the  wrestle  which  is  carried  on  by  faith. 

didst  confess  the  good  confession.  This  may  refer  to  the 
occasion  when  Timothy  was  brought  before  a  magistrate  and 
committed  to  prison  (Heb.  xiii.  23).  And  some  such  meaning 
seems  required  by  the  repetition  of  the  phrase  in  verse  13  of 
Jesus  Christ  before  Pilate,  though  note  the  difference  :  Timothy 
'confessed,'  Christ  'witnessed'  a  good  confession.  To  refer 
it  to  baptism,  with  Hoffmann,  Weiss,  Zahn,  and  Dr.  Bernard,  is 
arbitrary :  cf.  Heb.  iii.  i,  where  Jesus  is  called  the  '  Apostle  and 
High  Priest  of  our  confession.'  His  confession  before  Pilate 
became  the  model,  the  motive,  and  the  power  of  all  the 
confessions  which  his  followers  make  for  him  (Matt.  v.  11 :  cf. 
Heb.  xiii.  15).  The  emphasis  and  urgency  of  verses  13-16  imply 
that  Paul  was  not  overwhelmingly  sure  of  Timothy's  steadfastness. 
He  had  been  steadfast  in  one  trial,  and  had  endured  bonds  ;  but 
there  were  possibilities  of  weakness  in  him,  and  therefore  appeal 
is  made  to  the  most  momentous  facts — the  faithfulness  of  Christ 
and  the  omnipotence  of  God — to  confirm  him. 

13.  God,  who  quickeneth:  i.e.   'presei-veth  all  things  alive.' 

^  'meekness.'  The  word  used  not  found  in  the  Greek  Bible 
(2  Tim.  ii.  25,  a  different  form  of  the  same  root). 

'^  '  lay  hold  on '  :  a  word  used  by  Paul  only  here  and  at  verse  19. 
^  '  who  quickeneth  '  :  a  word  only  used  here  by  Paul. 
*  '  without  spot ' :  only  here  by  Paul. 


I   TIMOTHY   6.  15,16  137 

until  the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist:  which  in  15 
its  own  times  he  shall  shew,  who  is  the  blessed  and  only 
Potentate  \  the  King"  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords;  who  16 
only  hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  light  unapproachal:)le  ■'■ ; 
whom  no  man  hath  seen,   nor  can  see :    to  whom  be 
honour  and  power  eternal.     Amen. 

This  description  of  God  is  determined  by  the  thought  that  the  Giver 
of  all  life  can  alone  bestow  life  adequate  to  keep  the  command- 
ment unspotted  and  without  reproach. 

14.  the  commandment  might  mean  the  direction  just  given 
in  verse  11.  But  it  seems  better  to  identify  it  with  'that  which 
is  committed  to  thee  *  in  verse  19  (2  Tim.  i.  14,  or  iv.  i  and  5). 
The  whole  truth  of  the  gospel  entrusted  to  Timothy  to  keep  and 
to  preach  is  treated  for  the  moment  as  one  commandment. 

without  spot.  The  word  occurs  in  J  as.  i.  27  ;  i  Pet.  i.  19 ; 
2  Pet.  iii.  14 ;  and  in  each  case  applies  to  persons.  It  and 
without  reproach  apply  to  thou,  not  to  commandnient. 

the  appearing-.  Up  to  the  last  Paul  expected  the  second 
Advent  in  his  Hfetime ;  sometimes  he  called  it,  as  here,  epiphany, 
sometimes  the  day  of  the  Lord,  sometimes  the  revelation  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  sometimes  the  paroiisia,  and  once  the  epiphany  of 
his  paroiisia  (2  Thess.  ii.  8). 

15.  which  ...  he  shall  shew.  The  same  God  that  preserveth 
all  things  alive  will  effect  the  second  coming.  Timothy  is  there- 
fore exhorted  to  devotion  in  the  presence  of  this  living  God  by 
the  most  majestic  description  of  the  God  who  will  bring  again  in 
due  time  the  Lord  Jesus.  This  liturgical  description  of  God  is 
marked  by  several  words  which  are  not  found  elsewhere  in  Paul's 
writings. 

16.  who  only  hath  immortality:  (cf.  i.  17)  the  immortality 
of  angels  and  men  is  derived. 

lig'ht  unapproachable:  suggested  by  Exod.  xxxiii.  17-23, 
where  also  occurs  the  saying,  '  no  man  shall  see  my  face  and  live.' 
It  was  more  exact,  with  Philo,  to  apply  the  word  to  the  mount, 
than  as  here  to  apply  it  to  the  light.  But  it  is  true  that  we  as 
men  cannot  approach  the  light  in  which  God  dwells;  we  see 
through  a  glass  darkly. 

For  the  interjection  to  whom  be  honour  and  power  see  i.  17  ; 
Rom.  i.  25,  xi.  36. 

'  '  Potentate  '  :  not  used  elsewhere  by  Paul. 

^  '  King,'  applied  to  God  :  not  used  elsewhere  by  Paul. 

^  '  unapproachable '  :  not  used  elsewhere  by  Paul. 


138  I  TIMOTHY  6.  17-19 

17  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  present  world',  that 
they  be  not  highminded,  nor  have  their  hope  set  on 
the  uncertainty'^  of  riches,  but  on  God,  who  giveth  us 

J 8  richly  all  things  to  enjoy  ^ ;  that  they  do  good  \  that  they 
be  rich  in  good  works,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute  ^ 

19  willing  to  communicate  '* ;  laying  up  in  store  for  them- 
selves •"'  a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that 
they  may  lay  hold  on  the  life  which  is  /(fe  indeed. 


17.  The  charge  to  the  rich,  verses  17-19,  is  an  obvious  inter- 
polation between  verses  16  and  20,  w^hich  can  only  be  justified  by 
the  desultory  and  interjectional  style  of  a  letter.  But  it  is 
unusually  full  of  un-Pauline  phrases  and,  perhaps,  thoughts. 

The  doctrine,  though  it  rests  on  Luke  xii.  21  and  xvi.  9,  presents 
a  foundation  which  is  '  other '  than  that  which  Paul  laid ;  for 
here  almsgiving  appears  as  a  means  of  securing  life  indeed. 
The  idea  of  good  works  may  be  defended,  but  is  un-Pauline. 
If  this  is  an  integral  part  of  the  letter  it  certainly  presents 
a  strong  argument  against  the  authorship  of  Paul.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  passage  breaks  the  continuity,  and  the  fact  that 
it  contains  so  many  unusual  words,  we  may  regard  it  as  an 
insertion,  made  perhaps  by  Timothy  himself.  As  the  insertion 
must  have  been  far  earlier  than  our  oldest  textual  authorities, 
it  is  a  witness  to  the  rapidity  with  which  Paul's  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith,  and  eternal  life  as  the  gift  of  grace,  was 
clouded  by  the  more  familiar  notion  of  merit.  Whether  '  the  life 
indeed'  means  'life  in  Christ  Jesus'  or  'life  everlasting'  (verse 
12),  it  is  equally  unlike  Paul  to  regard  it  as  won  by  good  works 
and  the  right  use  of  wealth. 


^  Mn  this  present  world,'  i.e.  'in  the  now  world/  is  a  deviation 
from  the  constant  usage,  'this  world'  (Rom,  xii.  2:  i  Cor.  ii.  6; 
Eph.  i.  21. 

^  '  uncertainty '  is  a  word  not  found  in  the  Greek  Bible. 

^  *to  enjoy.'  The  word  never  in  Paul,  or  in  the  Greek  Bible, 
except  Heb.  xi.  25. 

*  *  do  good ' :  a  verb  never  used  in  the  Epistles  (though  it  occurs 
in  Paul's  speech  at  Lystra,  Acts  xiv.  17). 

^  '  ready  to  distribute,'  *  willing  to  communicate  ' :  two  words  that 
occur  nowhere  else  in  the  Greek  Bible. 

*  'laying  up  treasure':  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  the  Greek 
Bible. 


I  TIMOTHY  6.  20, 21  139 

O  Timothy,  guard  that  which  is  committed  unto  thee  \  20 
turning  away  from  the  profane  babbh'ngs  ^  and  oppositions" 
of  the  knowledge  which  is  falsely  so  called  "^ ;  which  some  21 
professing  have  erred  concerning  the  faith. 

20.  With  regard  to  the  Gnosis  (knowledge  falsely  so  called) 
we  have  seen  that  there  is  no  decisive  reason  for  recognizing 
a  reference  to  the  Gnosticism  of  the  second  century,  and  the 
oppositions  (antitheses)  cannot  be  an  allusion  to  the  antitheses 
of  Marcion  (a  series  of  oppositions  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments^,  as  it  is  introduced  here  without  explanation,  and 
must  refer  to  the  quarrelhngs  and  wranglings  so  frequently 
mentioned  during  the  letter  (i.  6,  iv.  7,  vi.  4  ;  2  Tim.  ii,  25  ; 
1  itus  i.  9). 

that  which  is  committed  unto  thee,  or  '  deposit ' :  the 
word  occurs  again  only  in  2  Tim.  i.  12,  14.  Its  meaning  must 
therefore  be  determined  by  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  To  see  in  the 
term,  with  patristic  writers  and  their  followers  to-day,  a  reference 
to  a  secret  deposit  of  doctrine  which  the  apostles  handed  down 
verbally  to  their  successors  is  as  indefensible  as  the  claim 
which  the  Roman  Church  makes,  to  have  received,  preserved, 
and  developed  that  deposit.  When  Paul  says  that  he  is  persuaded 
God  is  able  to  preser\'e  his  'deposit*  against  that  day,  it  is 
evident  that  he  is  not  thinking  so  much  of  a  body  of  doctrine  as 
of  that  spiritual  grace  of  life  in  Christ,  the  vital  factor  of  the  gospel 
entrusted  to  him,  and  the  secret  of  his  ministerial  acti\nty.  This 
treasure  given  to  him,  an  earthen  vessel,  God  would  preserve, 
though  the  earthen  vessel  should  be  broken.  Only  some  such 
interpretation  as  this  will  fit  the  context  of  2  Tim.  i.  13.  But 
if  that  be  so  we  are  bound  to  give  the  same  interpretation  to  the 
same  word  in  the  next  verse,  where  Timothy's  deposit  is  in 
question,  and  consequently  the  same  interpretation  must  be 
given  here.  The  thing  committed  to  him,  which  Timothy  has 
to  guard,  is  the  gospel  as  a  life-giving  power,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  babblings  and  cobwebs  of  a  speculative  system,  that 
inward  and  personal  experience  of  salvation,  communicated  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  which  can  only  be  kept  by  the  power  of  God, 
and  can  easily  be  frittered  away  by  the  vanity,  logomachy,  and 
self-interest  which  accompany  doctrinal  discussions. 

'  Two  words  peculiar  to  the  Pastorals,  '  that  which  is  committed 
unto  thee'  (the  deposit),  and  'babblings.' 

^  '  oppositions '  and  *  falsely  so  called '  occur  nowhere  else  in  the 
Greek  Bible. 


I40  I  TIMOTHY  6.  21 

Grace  be  with  you. 

21.  Grace  be  with  you.  This  mode  of  concluding  a  letter 
was  not  that  in  common  use,  which  was  the  Greek  equivalent 
to  *  farewell,'  but  it  was  a  characteristic  of  Paul,  to  whom  this 
grace  of  God  was  the  beginning  and  the  ending  and  the  secret 
of  life.  It  is  the  change  which  some  fervent  Christians  make 
when  they  substitute  for  the  formal  ending  of  their  letters  '  God 
bless  you.'  The  simple  form '  grace  be  with  you '  (plural)  is  found 
in  Colossians  and  i  and  2  Timothy. 

The  subscription  in  some  MSS.  (e.g.  K.  and  L.)  is  '  i  Timothy 
was  written  from  Laodicea,  which  is  the  metropolis  of  Pacatian 
Phrygia.' 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE 


TO 


TIMOTHY 

Paul,  an  apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  by  the  will  of  God,  1 
according  to  the  promise  of  the  life  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,   to  Timothy,  my  beloved  child :    Grace,  mercy,  2 
peace,  from  God  the  Father  and  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

i.  I,  2.     The  Salutation. 

1.  toy  the  will  of  God.  This  is  omitted  in  the  very  similar  saluta- 
tion of  I  Timothy  and  Titus.  The  lonely  and  deserted  prisoner, 
in  the  absence  of  human  recognition,  falls  back  on  the  consciousness 
that  he  is  an  apostle,  not  by  his  own  appointment,  but  by  the  will 
of  God.  In  the  hour  of  our  extremity,  when  earthly  friends  and 
securities  fail,  there  is  but  one  security,  the  rock  on  which  we 
stand,  the  will  of  God,  and  the  assurance  that  we  are  standing 
upon  it. 

according'  to  the  promise  of  the  life  ...  in  Christ  Jesns. 
The  preposition  rendered  'according  to  '  might  mean  'for'  (cf.  John 
ii.  6,  where  the  preposition  may  mean  '  for  tlie  purification  of  the 
Jews').  This  would  shew  the  purpose  of  his  apostleship,  viz.  to 
preach  the  promise  of  life  in  Christ.  But  a  far  simpler  connexion 
is  to  bring  the  clause  close  to  the  preceding  one;  'by  the 
will  of  God  according  to  the  promise  of  life,'  i.  e.  the  will  of  God 
called  Paul  to  apostleship  in  accordance  with  that  promise  of  life 
which  was  in  Christ,  for  that  promise  of  life  demanded  persons  in 
whom  it  could  be  manifested  and  by  whom  it  could  be  preached. 
Unless  God  had  appointed  chosen  vessels  to  convey  the  promise 
of  life  to  the  world,  it  would  have  remained  uncommunicated. 
That  is  the  significance  of  apostleship,  and  that  is  the  task  which 
the  dying  man  wishes  to  hand  on  to  his  successor,  his  beloved  son. 
The  mercy,  for  some  reason  or  other,  only  springs  to  his  lips  in 
writing  to  Timothy  and  to  the  Colossians. 


142  II  TIMOTHY   1.  3-5 

3  I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers  in  a 
pure  conscience,  how  unceasing  is  my  remembrance  of 

4  thee  in  my  suppHcations,  night  and  day  longing  to  see 
thee,  remembering  thy  tears,  that  I  may  be  filled  with 

5  joy ;  having  been  reminded  ^  of  the  unfeigned  faith  that  is 
in  thee ;  which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grandmother  *  Lois,  and 
thy  mother  Eunice ;  and,  I  am  persuaded,  in  thee  also. 

Z.  An  exhortation  to  a  true  and  fearless  contention  for  the 
g-ospel.     i.  3 — ii.  13. 

i.  3 — ii.  13,     Contend  for  the  gospel. 

3.  I  thank  God.  See  on  i  Tim.  i.  12.  Paul  loves  to  begin 
a  letter  with  thanks. 

from  my  forefathers.  Cf.  i  Tim.  v.  4.  A  prisoner  facing 
death  goes  back  on  his  early  associations  ;  and  it  is  suggested  too 
by  the  fact  that  he  is  thinking  of  Timothy's  mother  and  grandmother 
(cf.  Acts  xxiv.  14,  xxii.  3). 

tinceasing^  is  my  remembrance.  For  Paul's  beautiful  habit 
see  Rom.  i.  10 ;  i  Thess.  i.  2,  iii.  6.  It  is  good  to  pray  for  indi- 
viduals ;  it  is  good  also  to  tell  them  that  you  pray  for  them. 

4.  remembering'  thy  tears.  The  master  and  disciple  had 
parted  with  tears  :  cf.  Acts  xx.  37.  Timothy  was  evidently  of  an 
emotional  nature.  When  they  meet  agam  Paul  will  be  filled  with 
joy  :  cf  a  more  mutual  motive  in  Rom.  xv.  13. 

5.  having"  been  reminded :  perhaps  by  a  common  friend  or  by 
a  letter  from  Timothy.  In  spite  of  the  rather  irregular  connexion 
of  the  clauses,  this  seems  to  express  the  real  ground  of  the  writer's 
thanksgiving. 

Ziois,  the  grandmother,  was  most  likely  Eunice's  mother. 
Eunice's  husband  was  a  Greek,  The  two  women  had  trained 
Timothy  in  the  Scriptures  (lii.  14, 15),  and  were  probably  converted 
on  Paul's  first  visit  to  Lystra. 

Eunice,  unnamed,  is  described  in  Acts  xvi.  i  as  a  believing 
Jewish  woman. 

Von  Soden,  in  the  Hand-Commentar,  convinced  that  this  Epistle 
is  simply  an  imitation  of  Paul,  sees  the  original  of  verses  3-5  in 
Rom.  i.  8-12,  and  pronounces  all  that  is  added  to  the  model 
thoroughly  un-Pauline.  But  the  natural  references  to  '  Lois '  and 
'Eunice 'are  stamps  of  genuineness.  And  the  objection  that  Paul 
would  not  say  that  he  served  God  from  his  fathers  in  view  of  his 

^  '  reminded.'  The  word  occurs  only  here  in  Paul,  but  the  cognate 
verb  is  at  ii.  14;  Titus  iii.  i. 

^  'grandmother.'    The  word  used  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  N.T. 


II  TIMOTHY   1.  6,  7  143 

For  the  which  cause  *  I  put  thee  in  remembrance  that  6 
thou  stir  up  ^  the  gift  of  God,  which  is  in  thee  through 
the  laying  on  of  my  hands.     For  God  gave  us  not  a  7 
spirit    of  fearfulness  ^  \     but    of   power    and    love   and 

sense  of  guilt  for  his  opposition  to  the  gospel  (i  Tim.  i.  13)  is 
sufficiently  met  by  Acts  xxiv.  14.  Indeed,  such  an  objection 
overlooks  the  curious  fluctuations  of  the  human  spirit ;  Paul,  if  he 
was  like  other  men,  might  frequently  be  overwhelmed  with  sorrow 
for  having  persecuted  the  Church  of  God  and  for  having  resisted 
his  Saviour,  and  yet  in  other  moments  might  honestly  feel  that  he 
had  all  along  served  God  according  to  his  light,  and  in  fact  obtained 
mercy  because  he  acted  in  ignorance. 

6.  the  gift  of  God,  or,  charisma.  See  note  on  i  Tim.  iv.  14. 
This  spiritual  gift  was  imparted  when  Paul  originally  ordained 
Timothy  to  accompany  him  on  his  missionary  travels.  It  was  the 
capacity,  and  also  the  zeal  and  spirit,  for  his  work  as  an  evangelist. 
Paul  reminds  Timothy  of  the  nature  of  the  gift  as  a  reason  for  stirring 
it  up  ;  it  was  not  a  spirit  of  fearfulness — perhaps  that  was  the  spirit 
which  Timothy  was  displaying — but  of  power  and  love  and  discipline. 

the  laying'  on  of  hands:  a  Jewish  custom  in  transmitting 
an  office ;  see  Num.  xxvii.  18  of  Joshua,  and  Num.  viii.  10  of  the 
priests.  So  it  appears  in  Acts  vi.  6,  xiii.  3.  It  also  appears  as 
a  means  of  imparting  healing  power,  2  Kings  iv.  34 ;  and  so  in 
Acts  iii.  7,  iv.  30,  v.  12,  ix.  12,  xiv.  3,  xix.  11,  xxviii.  8.  Thus 
there  was  a  laying  on  of  hands  in  baptism,  Heb.  vi.  2  ;  Acts  viii. 
17,  19,  xix,  6.  In  the  Pastoral  letters  the  laying  on  of  hands 
seems  to  unite  the  two  ideas  of  transmitting  an  office  and  of 
imparting  a  direct  power.  But  if  we  are  to  maintain  successfully 
the  Pauline  authorship  of  these  Epistles,  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
push  too  far  the  idea  of  a  mechanical  transmission.  Otherwise  the 
words  of  the  Hand-Commentar  will  apply ;  '  what  in  Paul  was 
a  free  gift  of  the  spirit,  inwardly  communicated,  is  now  an  official 
grace,  passed  on  by  men  who  possess  it,  through  an  external 
ceremony.  While  the  Pauline  charisma  was  manifold,  it  appears 
in  the  Pastorals  only  to  embrace  a  qualification  for  the  task  of 
teaching  (i  Tim.  iv.  14  ;  2  Tim.  i.  6).'  In  any  case  there  seems 
to  be  a  considerable  chasm  between  Paul's  view  in  the  older 
Epistles  and  the  implication  in  these  ;  but  if  the  freedom  of  the 
Spirit   in  the  former   is  maintained,    we  may   contend   that,   as 

*  *  For  the  which  cause ' :    a  phrase  not  used  by  Paq^  except  in 
the  Pastorals,  see  verse  12,  Titus  i.  3. 
"^  '  stir  up  ' :  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 
^  '  fearfulness  '  :  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Testament. 


144  n  TIMOTHY   1.  8-10 

8  disciplined  Be  not  ashamed  therefore  of  the  testimony 
of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me  his  prisoner  :  but  suffer  hardship 

9  with  ^  the  gospel  according  to  the  power  of  God ;  who 
saved  us,  and  called  us  with  a  holy  calling,  not  according 
to  our  works,  but  according  to  his  own  purpose  and 
grace,  which  was  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus  before  times 

10  eternal,  but  hath  now  been  manifested  by  the  appearing^ 


appears  in  the  latter,  the  spiritual  gifts  might  be  accompanied  by 
the  ceremony  of  laying  on  of  hands. 

7.  discipline:  viz.  exercising  discipline  on  defaulters.  The 
verb  translated  '  train  '  in  Titus  ii.  4.  Note  that  the  gift  of  the 
spirit  is  ethical,  not  official. 

8.  Be  not  ashamed.  As  Bengel  tersely  says,  'when  fear  is 
overcome  false  shame  flies.' 

the  testimony  of  our  Iiord :  viz.  the  gospel,  i  Cor.  i.  6  ; 
Rom.  i.  16.  This  latter  passage  shews  that  it  was  not  only  the 
fact  of  Paul  being  a  prisoner  under  sentence  that  gave  occasion 
for  shame  ;  but  the  humiliation  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  and  of 
a  salvation  not  by  works  but  by  faith,  constantly  tempts  the  proud 
human  heart  to  be  ashamed  of  Christ. 

his  prisoner:  i.  e,  a  prisoner  for  his  sake :  cf.  Eph.  iii.  i,  iv. 
I  ;  Philem.  9. 

suffer  hardship  with.  Cf.  ii.  3,  which  shews  that  '  me '  is 
understood.  The  R.  V.  rendering  is  not  approved  by  Dr.  Bernard  or 
the  Hand-Commentar.    It  should  be  *  suffer  with  me  for  the  gospel.' 

according  to  the  power  of  God :  i.  e.  which  He  gives,  to 
endure  verse  7. 

9.  who  saved  us :  not  Paul  and  Timothy  only,  but  men  :  cf. 
Titus  iii.  5.  This  saving  purpose  of  God,  by  grace  and  not  of  works, 
is  Paul's  peculiar  doctrine  (Rom.  viii.  28,  xi.  29  ;  i  Cor.  i.  9  ;  Gal. 
i.  6  ;  Eph.  ii.  9).  It  is  an  offset  against  the  prevailing  importance 
attached  to  works  in  the  Pastorals. 

The  purpose  of  God  being  before  time  is  also  thoroughly  Pauline, 
Rom.  xvi.  25  ;  Eph.  i.  4  (cf.  Acts  xv.  18) ;  i  Cor.  ii.  7.  But  to 
say  that  the  grace  was  given  to  us  before  time  is  a  step  into  the 
concrete  which  Paul  does  not  elsewhere  take.     By  being  given  to 

^  '  discipline '  :  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Testament  (but 
the  verb  is  in  John  xiv.  27  and  the  adjective  in  Rev.  xxi.  7,  S), 
frequent  in  the  Pastorals,  see  i  Tim.  ii.  9. 

"^  'suffer  hardship  with  '  :   only  here  and  at  ii.  3. 

^  'the  appearing'  (cf.  i  Tim.  vi.  14)  ;  only  here  of  the  first  coming 
(cf.  Titus  iii.  4). 


II  TIMOTHY   1.  II,  12  145 

of  our  Saviour  Christ  Jesus,  who  abolished  death,  and 
brought  hfe  and  incorruption  to  hght  through  the  gospel, 
whereunto  I  was  appointed  a  preacher,  and  an  apostle,  n 
and  a  teacher.  For  the  which  cause  I  suffer  also  these  la 
things  :  yet  I  am  not  ashamed ;  for  I  know  him  whom  I 
have  believed,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
guard  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against 

the  pre-existent  Christ  it  is  regarded  as  being  given  to  us.  Cf. 
Rom.  xii.  3,  6,  xv.  15  ;  i  Cor.  i.  4,  iii.  10 ;  Gal.  ii.  9  ;  Col.  i.  25  ; 
Eph.  iii.  2,  7,  iv.  7. 

10.  Jesus  Christ :  that  is  the  order  of  the  majority,  though  not 
the  oldest  of  MSS.  It  is  more  suitable  here  than  the  common 
order  '  Christ  Jesus,'  because  it  lays  stress  on  the  historical  person 
Jesus,  and  adds  that  he  was  Christ  (Messiah). 

abolished  death :  viz.  physical  death,  because  its  sting  is  sin, 
and  Christ  by  dying  destroyed  sin  (i  Cor.  xv.  56). 

and  broug'ht  life  and  immortality  to  lig'ht:  hendiadys  for 
'eternal  life.'  The  verb  '  brought  to  light '  is  that  in  John  i.  9,  '  which 
lighteth  every  man.'  It  implies  that  'life  and  immortality,'  before 
the  Incarnation  and  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  were  shadowy  and 
insubstantial,  guesses,  hopes,  aspirations  rather  than  solid  realities. 
The  shadowy  realms  of  Hades,  under  the  gloom  of  the  grave, 
filled  the  Greek  mind  with  dejection,  while  among  the  Jews  only 
one  party  admitted  the  future  life  at  all,  while  the  strict  legalists 
flatly  denied  it.  But  through  the  gospel,  i.  e.  the  glad  tidings 
of  a  risen  Lord,  who  could  bring  again  from  the  dead  those  who 
believe  in  him,  this  dim  region  of  hope  was  illuminated.  Christ 
within,  the  hope  of  glory,  corresponded  to  Christ  without  who 
was  risen  from  the  dead.  Life  and  immortality  were  henceforth 
lit  up  with  the  double  certainty  of  an  objective  resurrection,  and 
of  a  subjective  experience  of  the  risen  One. 

11.  preacher,  apostle,  teacher.  See  i  Tim.  i.  12,  ii.  7  ;  the 
'  of  the  Gentiles  '  in  the  latter  passage  is  here,  according  to  the 
best  manuscript  authority,  omitted.  It  is  only  in  the  Pastorals 
that  Paul  ranks  himself  as  a  teacher  (Eph.  iv.  11). 

12.  whom  I  have  believed:  rather,  'have  trusted' ;  cf.  Tit.  iii.  8. 
The  trust  has  been  placed  in  him,  and  remains. 

able  :  rather,  '  mighty.' 

that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  should  be  'my 
deposit,'  see  i  Tim.  vi.  20.  The  word  is  in  LXX,  Lev.  vi.  2,  4; 
2  Mace.  iii.  10,  15.  In  the  latter  passage  the  deposits  represent 
money  entrusted  by  widows  and  orphans  to  the  temple,  and  the 
priests  pray  that  God  will  keep  them  safe.     As  was  pointed  out 


146  II  TIMOTHY   1.  13,  14 

13  that  day.     Hold  the  pattern  of  sound  words  which  thou 
hast  heard  from  me,  in  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ 

14  Jesus.     That  good   thing   ^vhich    was   committed   unto 

at  I  Tim.  vi.  20,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  the  same  meaning  in  the 
three  places  where  the  word  occurs  in  the  Pastorals,  and  that 
requires  us  to  adopt  the  marginal  reading  rather  than  that  which 
the  Revisers  admitted  into  the  text.  It  is  quite  arbitrary  to  identify 
the  deposit  with  'the  pattern  of  sound  words'  in  verse  13.  The 
doctrinal  forms  are  not  the  deposit,  but  merely  the  intellectual 
account  of  it.  Far  nearer  the  mark  would  it  be  to  identify  the 
deposit  with  '  the  faith  and  the  love  in  Christ  Jesus.'  Accordingly 
the  '  beautiful  deposit '  of  verse  14,  which  must  be  identical  with 
that  of  verse  12,  viewed  now  not  as  Paul's,  but  as  Timothy's 
received  from  the  master,  is  to  be  guarded,  not  as  doctrine  might 
be,  in  a  creed  or  symbol,  nor  as  an  ecclesiastical  office  might  be, 
by  the  church,  but '  through  the  Holy  Ghost  which  dwelleth  in  us.' 

The  attempt  of  von  Soden,  for  example,  to  identify  this  deposit 
with  a  body  of  orthodox  doctrine  which,  entrusted  to  Paul,  is 
handed  over  to  Timothy,  for  transmission  to  his  successors,  is 
determined  by  the  conviction  that  the  whole  Epistle  comes  from 
a  later  age,  when  such  a  notion  would  be  intelligible.  But  if  we 
abide  by  the  simple  meaning  of  the  words  there  is  nothing  in  them 
which  is  un-Pauline.  That  the  church  misunderstood  and 
wrested  the  words  of  Paul,  and  turned  his  purely  spiritual  and 
living  notion  of  a  deposit,  as  the  power  of  an  inward  life,  into  the 
formal  idea  of  orthodox  doctrine,  does  not  shew  that  Paul  had  any 
such  intention,  but  only  that  this  passage  gave  a  verbal  starting- 
point  for  such  an  un-Pauline  develo.pment. 

against  that  day :  a  phrase,  says  the  Hand-Commentar,  not 
found  in  Paul,  but  borrowed  from  the  Synoptic  Gospels  ;  but  if 
a  Thessalonians  is  Paul's,  he  uses  it  there  (i.  10)  :  cf.  2  Tim.  i.  18, 
iv.  8.  Paul  is  persuaded,  having  kept  his  deposit,  the  spiritual  life 
entrusted  to  him,  up  to  the  present  time,  when  his  fight  was 
fought  and  his  course  ended  (iv.  7),  that  God  was  powerful  to 
maintain  it  for  him  through  the  dark  passage  of  death  and  restore 
it  to  him  in  '  that  day,'  viz.  the  day  of  judgement.  He  urges 
Timothy,  during  the  course  that  lay  before  him,  to  keep  his 
deposit  in  the  same  way,  implying  that,  if  he  does,  he  also  will 
be  able  to  commit  it  in  confidence  to  God  in  articulo  mortis, 

13.  pattern.     See  i  Tim.  i.  16. 

sound  words.  See  i  Tim.  i.  10,  vi.  3.  The  healthful  words 
come  from  God,  who  is  life  and  health.  It  is  only  in  the  faith 
and  love  in  Christ  Jesus  that  one  can  hold  the  sound  words; 
apart  from  such  faith  and  love,  the  sound  words  themselves  become 
unwholesome,  the  source  of  contention  and  damning. 


II  TIMOTHY   1.  15,  16  147 

^/lee  guard  through  the  Holy  Ghost  which  dwelleth  in  us. 

This  thou  knowest,  that  all  that  are  in  Asia  turned  15 
away  from  me ;  of  whom  are  Phygelus  and  Hermogenes, 
The  Lord  grant  mercy'  unto  the  house  of  Onesiphorus :  16 
for  he  oft  refreshed  ^  me,  and  was  not  ashamed  of  my 

14.  which  dwelleth  in  us.  Dr.  Bernard  says  *  especially  in 
you  and  me,'  to  whom  grace  for  ministry  has  been  given.  This  is 
quite  an  un-Pauline  contraction  of  interpretation.  Paul  recognizes 
the  Spirit  equally  in  all  Christians,  Rom.  viii.  11, 

Verses  15-18  hold  before  Timothy  two  concrete  instances,  one 
as  warning,  the  other  as  an  example,  to  encourage  him  to  guard 
his  deposit. 

15.  thou  knowest,  in  verse  15,  is  a  different  Greek  verb  from 
that  in  verse  18.  The  first  is  a  mere  head-,  the  second  a  heart- 
knowledge. 

Asia:  the  Roman  province  of  that  name,  Asia  Minor.  Ephesus 
was  its  metropolis.  Certain  Christians  from  that  quarter  had 
evidently  been  in  Rome  and  had  repudiated  Paul  the  prisoner. 
Probably  Phygelus  and  Hermogenes  were  Ephesians,  and  are 
therefore  named.  In  the  apocryphal  Acfs  of  Paul  and  Thecla  the 
writer  introduces  Hermogenes,  borrowing  no  doubt  from  this 
passage,  as  a  coppersmith  and  full  of  hypocrisy.  But  the  names 
are  mere  names  to  us. 

16.  Onesiphorus  (cf.  iv.  19),  who,  in  the  apocryphal  Ads  of 
Paul  and  Thecla^  is  represented  as  a  householder  of  Iconium,  and 
a  friend  to  Paul  on  his  first  missionary  journey,  had  evidently  been 
in  Rome,  and  taken  pains  to  find  out  Paul  in  his  confinement  and 
to  cheer  him  with  love  and  sympathy.  This  example  of  one  who 
was  not  ashamed  of  the  prisoner  is  held  up  to  Timothy,  who 
evidently  (verse  8)  shewed  some  tendency  to  such  a  false  shame. 
It  would  seem  that  Onesiphorus  had  subsequently  died,  and  there- 
fore it  is  only  for  his  family  that  Paul  invokes  the  blessing. 
During  Paul's  stay  at  Ephesus  Onesiphorus  had  rendered  him 
service,  to  Timothy's  personal  knowledge. 

They  who  are  anxious  to  support  prayers  for  the  dead,  having 
otherwise  no  scriptural  authority  except  from  the  Apocrypha 
(2  Mace.  xii.  44),  clutch  at  this  passage.  Assuming,  with  some 
probability,  that  Onesiphorus  was  dead,  they  find  in  the  exclamation, 
'  The  Lord  grant  him  to  find  mercy  from  the  Lord  in  that  da}','  an 
instance  of  the  Apostle  praying  for  the  dead.  Dr.  Bernard  assents 
and  quotes  an  epitaph  in  the  second  half  of  the  second  century,  in 
which  Abercius,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis,  asks  for  the  prayers  of  all 


^  *  grant  mercy,*  *  refreshed ' :  both  words  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

L   2 


148  II  TIMOTHY   1.  17,  18 

17  chain;    but,    when    he   was   in   Rome,    he   sought   me 

18  dihgently,  and  found  me  (the  Lord  grant  unto  him  to 
find  mercy  ^  of  the  Lord  in  that  day) ;  and  in  how  many 
things  he  ministered  at  Ephesus,  thou  knowest  very  well  '\ 

who  see  his  tomb  (Lightfoot,  Ignatius,  i.  496).  Certainly,  if 
this  is  a  prayer  for  the  dead,  it  brings  the  composition  of  the  letter 
into  the  second  century,  and  negatives  the  Pauline  authorship. 
But  there  is  a  difference  between  an  optative  and  a  request.  Paul 
expresses  the  wish,  he  does  not  utter  a  prayer,  that  Onesiphorus 
may  find  mercy.  That  wish  we  are  entitled  to  entertain  for  all. 
But  to  pray  for  the  dead,  and  to  offer  Masses  for  them,  is  a  thought 
remote  from  the  apostolic  mind  ;  it  had  its  origin,  not  in  the 
interests  of  the  dead,  but  in  those  of  the  living.  The  Mass  priest 
is  paid  to  pray  for  the  dead.  It  is  a  lucrative  business  ;  for  it  is 
touching  with  the  finger  of  superstition  the  tenderest  point  of 
a  bereaved  heart.  There  may  be  nothing  to  hinder  the  sorrowing 
soul  from  breathing  out  its  prayers  for  the  departed  into  the 
Father's  ear,  but  there  is  every  reason  to  discourage  the  doctrine 
of  prayers  for  the  dead  which,  based  on  superstition,  is  maintained 
for  filthy  lucre's  sake.  And  while  the  Council  of  Trent  made 
2  Maccabees  canonical,  in  order  to  get  scriptural  ground  for  the 
abuse,  w^e  are  bound  to  insist  that  the  Roman  Church  must  be 
content  with  that  slender  scriptural  support.  Certainly  the  case 
of  Onesiphorus  affords  no  slenderest  foothold  for  the  dogma  :  for  in 
the  first  place  it  is  only  a  surmise  that  he  was  dead  at  the  time, 
and  in  the  second  place  there  is  here  no  prayer  but  a  pious  wish. 

The  peculiar  interest  of  this  first  chapter  lies  in  the  close  relations 
it  establishes  between  Paul  and  his  correspondent.  Timothy  is 
very  dear  to  him.  He  broods  on  the  childhood  and  training  and 
ordination  of  his  young  friend.  He  proposes  his  own  example  to 
him.  He  is  most  anxious  not  to  lose  the  younger  man's  sympathy 
and  support.  He  puts  Timothy  and  himself  side  by  side  as 
recipients  of  the  great  deposit,  which  they  must  both  faithfully 
keep.  He  cites  the  instances  of  desertion,  and  invokes  a  blessing 
on  the  faithful  friend  Onesiphorus,  as  if  to  say,  with  an  almost 
nervous  solicitude  :  God  grant  that  my  beloved  son  Timothy  may 
not  be  like  Phygelus  and  Hermogenes  !  God  grant  that  he  may 
search  me  out  and  bear  my  reproach  as  bravely  as  Onesiphorus 
did  !  And  it  is  in  this  eager  anxiety  that  he  passes  on  in  chap.  ii. 
to  exhort  Timothy  to  courage. 

very  well  is  '  better,'  viz.  better  even  than  I. 

*  *  find  mercy  '  :  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 
'  'very  well ' :  only  here  in  the  N.T. 


II  TIMOTHY  2.  I,  2  149 

Thou  therefore,  my  child,  be  strengthened  in  the  2 
grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  the  things  which  2 
thou   hast  heard  from  me  among  many  witnesses,  the 

ii.  1-7.     A  more  personal  exhortation  to  Timothy. 

1.  Thou  therefore  :  as  against  Phygelus  and  Hermogenes,  and 
with  Onesiphorus. 

my  child :  in  contrast  with  the  aliens  who  turned  away  from 
him. 

be  streugrthened :  £ph.  vi.  10. 

in  the  grace :  i.  e.  by  abiding  in  the  grace  of  Christ  strength 
comes.     Cf.  i  Tim.  i.  12. 

2.  the  thing's  which  then  hast  heard  from  me  through  many 
witnesses  is  the  original  Greek.  We  naturally  refer  to  i.  13. 
And  we  explain  the  phrase  as  a  reference  to  the  intercourse  which 
Timothy  had  enjoyed  with  Paul  for  twelve  years.  In  that  period 
he  had  received  much  of  Paul's  instruction  directly  (i.  13),  but 
much  had  come  indirectly  through  the  other  companions  of  Paul, 
who  had  all  been  either  observers  of  the  Christian  verities  or 
actual  subjects  of  Christian  grace  ;  and  though  these  are  not  cited 
as  authorities,  they  are  referred  to  as  independent  witnesses  of  the 
truth.  These  things  which  Timothy  heard  from  Paul  we  may 
discover  not  only  in  the  Pastoral  but  in  the  other  Pauline  Epistles. 
There  is  absolutely  no  reason  for  supposing  that  there  was  any 
esoteric  doctrine  privately  handed  dov^n  by  the  apostles  to  their 
successors.  The  only  reason  why  Paul  lays  stress  on  the  trans- 
mission here  is  that  as  yet  he  did  not  think  of  his  own  letters  as 
Scripture.  When  these  letters  were  admitted  into  the  Canon  the 
demand  which  Paul  makes  here  was  secured.  And  thus  the 
sufficiency  to  teach  others,  mentioned  here,  turns  upon  the  ac- 
quaintance with  the  apostolic  tradition  contained  in  the  N,  T. 
The  Roman  claim,  that  Paul  handed  down  to  Timothy  the  deposit 
of  truth  which  has  subsequently  been  developed  and  authorized 
hy  the  infallible  church,  is  just  one  of  those  desperate  afterthoughts 
by  which  Rome  endeavours  to  justify  her  assumptions  from  a  text 
of  Scripture  interpreted  in  her  own  way.  It  was  in  order  to 
realize  the  command  of  verse  2  and  to  save  it  from  perversion  that 
the  letters  of  Paul  were  gathered  together  and  treated  as  holy 
Scripture  ("2  Pet.  iii.  15).  But  the  Roman  Church  has  used  this 
passage  as  an  excuse  for  neutralizing  all  that  Paul  taught,  and 
would  have  us  believe  that  what  Timothy  heard  from  Paul  through 
many  witnesses  was,  not  the  great  principle  of  justification  by 
faith  (i.  9%  but  a  principle  of  justification  by  works  and  faith ;  not 
a  doctrine  of  one  Mediator,  but  a  doctrine  of  Mary  as  the  mediatrix 
between  us  and  her  Son,  and  the  saints  as  mediators  through  whom 
we  approach  God  ;  not  a  faith  in  a  sacrifice  offered  once  for  all,  but 


I50  II  TIMOTHY  2.  3-7 

same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to 

3  teach  others  also.     Suffer  hardship  with  me^  as  a  good 

4  soldier  of  Christ  Jesus.     No  soldier  on  service  entangleth 
himself  in  the  affairs '  of  this  life ;  that  he  may  please  him 

5  who  enrolled  ^  him  as  a  soldier.      And  if  also  a  man 
contend  in  the  games  ^,  he  is  not  crowned  ^,  except  he  have 

6  contended  lawfully.      The  husbandman  that   laboureth 

7  must  be  the  first  to  partake  *  of  the  fruits.     Consider  what 

the  practice  of  a  daily  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  after  the  pattern  of  the 
tabernacle  which,  Paul  saw,  was  done  away  in  Christ.  Rome 
makes  use  of  the  Scriptures  to  wrest  from  them  an  authority  for  her 
tradition  which  supersedes  them.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the 
followers  of  the  Apostle  have  carried  out  his  command  in  this 
verse. 

3.  suffer  hardship  with  :  i.  8. 

a  g-Qod  soldier:  especially  in  conflict  with  the  several  teachers 
of  heresy  (Phil.  ii.  25 :  Fhilem.  2) — the  church  militant.  Cf,  iv.  7 ; 
I  Tim.  i.  18,  vi.  12 ;  Phil.  i.  30  ;  Col.  i.  29. 

4.  The  immediate  reference  is  to  work  for  the  means  of  living^ 
(cf.  Mark  xii.  44  ;  Luke  xv.  12,  30).  Paul's  thought  is  amplified 
in  I  Cor.  ix.  4.  11  ;  cf.  Gal.  vi.  6. 

5.  See  on  i  Tim.  vi.  12. 

lawfully  (see  i  Tim.  i.  8) :  i.  e.  submitting  to  the  rules  of  the 
contest,  training,  age,  &c.  Epictetus  uses  just  the  same  image, 
and  shews  how  the  athlete  eating  *  by  rule*  to  conquer  in  the 
013'mpian  games  is  like  the  philosopher  who  aims  at  truth  by 
self-discipline.  In  Timothy's  case  the  *  rule '  is  that  he  must 
abstain  from  worldlyand  renumerative  employments,  giving  himself 
wholly  to  his  ministr3\ 

6.  the  husbandman  that  laboureth  must.  It  is  an  economic 
necessity  that  the  actual  tiller  of  the  soil  should  get  his  maintenance 
out  of  it  ;  the  wages  of  labour  is  the  first  charge  on  agricultural 
produce.  From  this  is  inferred  the  right  of  the  Christian  minister 
to  receive  the  temporal  things  by  which  he  may  live  while  he 
ministers  spiritual  things.  (Cf.  i  Cor.  ix.  7,  also  i  Cor.  iii.  9  for 
the  idea  of  husbandry.) 

'  '  affairs  '  and  *  him  who  enrolled ' :  both  words  only  found  here 
in  the  Greek  Bible. 

'^  '  contend  in  the  games '  :  a  word  =  be  an  athlete,  only  here  in 
the  Greek  Bible. 

'  'crowned ' :  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  Paul  (but  in  Heb.  ii,  7). 

*  '  partake  '  :   not  used  elsewhere  in  Paul's  letters. 


II  TIMOTHY  2.  8-10  151 

I  say ;  for  the  Lord  shall  give  thee  understanding  in  all 
things.      Remember  Jesus  Christ,  risen  from  the  dead,    8 
of  the  seed  of  David,  according  to  my  gospel :    wherein   9 
I  suffer  hardship  unto  bonds,  as  a  malefactor  ^ ;   but  the 
word  of  God  is  not  bound.      Therefore  I  endure  all  10 

*J.  Consider  ...  for  the  Lord  shall  give.  The  Lord  would 
make  Paul's  meaning  the  more  plain,  and  reconcile  Timothy  to  the 
idea  of  living  on  a  stipend  instead  of  working  for  a  maintenance,  all 
the  more  because  it  was  the  definite  teaching  of  the  Lord  that 
they  who  preach  the  gospel  should  live  by  it.  There  are  few 
respects  in  which  the  soldier  of  Christ  is  more  hampered  and 
humiliated  than  this  ;  he  has  to  lay  aside  the  ordinary  work  by 
which  he  might  earn  his  bread,  and  to  be  dependent  on  the 
charity  of  others.  This  is  rightly  described  as  a  hardship  ;  but 
the  Master  made  it  easier  for  every  servant  of  his  by  himself 
setting  the  example. 

ii.  8-13.  Remember  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  highest  motive  for 
the  preceding  exhortation.  Keep  the  risen  Christ  before  the  mind  ; 
risen  and  yet  human  (for  this  combination  see  Rom.  i,  3). 

according  to  my  g*ospel :   Rom.  ii.  16,  xvi.  25. 
9.    wherein  I  suffer :  viz.  in  proclaiming  which.     As  Bengel 
says,  Paul  uses  the  example  of  Christ,  according  to  his  custom,  to 
give  life  to  his  own  example. 

malefactor  :  thus  Paul  identifies  himself  with  Christ's  fellow 
sufferers  on  the  cross.  Prof.  Ramsay  {Church  in  the  Roman 
Empire,  p.  249)  sees  in  this  strong  word  an  indication  of  the 
Jlagitia  imputed  to  Paul  and  the  Christians  in  the  Neronic  persecu- 
tion (Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44).  If  Prof.  Ramsay  is  right  in  this  view,  it 
points  to  the  Pauline  authorship,  or  at  least  to  the  date  of  the 
early  persecution.  Up  to  Domitian's  time  Christianity  was  not 
a  forbidden  religion  ;  Paul  and  the  other  sufferers  under  Nero 
were  proceeded  against  as  common  criminals,  charged  with 
setting  the  city  on  fire.  Of  course  one  could  not  rest  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Epistle  on  this  use  of  the  word  'malefactor,'  but  it 
is  an  undesigned  indication  of  an  historic  situation. 

the  word  of  God  is  not  bound :  he  rejoices  in  the  thought 
that  he  can  writc^  and,  like  Rutherford,  Baxter,  Bunyan,  Law, 
and  Penn  in  later  times,  the  tyranny  which  binds  the  preacher  may 
only  result  in  sending  his  written  word  farther  and  making  it 
more  lasting. 

'  ' z.  malefactor':  a  word  not  used  by  Paul,  but  by  Luke 
(xxiii.  32). 


152  II  TIMOTHY  2.  11-13 

things  for  the  elect's  sake,  that  they  also  may  obtain  the 
salvation   which  is  in   Christ  Jesus  with   eternal  glory. 

11  Faithful  is  the  saying :  For  if  we  died  with  him,  we  shall 

12  also  live  with  him  :  if  we  endure,  we  shall  also  reign  with 

13  him :  if  we  shall  deny  him,  he  also  will  deny  us :  if  we 
are  faithless,  he  abideth  faithful ;  for  he  cannot  deny 
himself. 

10.  I  endure  all  .  . .  for  the  elect's  sake.  For  the  'elect'  see 
Rom.  viii.  33  ;  Col.  iii.  12 ;  Titus  i.  i.  Paul  had  a  belief  that 
he  could  fill  up  the  measure  of  Christ's  sufferings,  and  in  that 
way  enable  the  elect  to  obtain  salvation  as  he  himself  had  done. 
But  it  is  evident,  from  his  attitude  of  humility  and  his  confidence 
in  the  sole  sufficiency  of  Christ,  that  he  does  not  mean  to  place 
his  sufferings  on  a  level,  or  in  the  same  category,  with  Christ's. 
They  are  not  vicarious  or  redemptive.  But  by  enduring,  without 
giving  way,  he  takes  part  in  establishing  the  truth  of  the  gospel : 
and  his  sense  of  identification  with  Christ,  brought  out  in  verses 
11-13,  enables  him  to  share  in  Christ's  redemptive  work,  though 
humility  and  love  alike  prevent  him  from  even  thinking  of  himself 
as  redeemer.  The  point  of  view  is  readily  gained  if  we  put  the 
supposition  :  What  would  have  happened  if  Paul  had  not  endured  ? 
If  he,  like  Demas,  had  proved  traitor  to  the  gospel,  humanly 
speaking  the  elect  would  not  have  heard  the  good  news,  and 
the  stream  of  truth  would  have  been  dammed  up  at  its  source. 

11.  Paithful  is  the  saying"  (see  on  i  Tim.  i.  rs,  iv.  9). 
Though  the  R.  V.  does  not  favour  the  view,  the  simpler  method  is 
to  treat  the  faithful  saying  as  the  personal  truth  just  uttered 
(cf.  I  Tim.  i.  15  ,  then,  as  in  i  Tim.  iv.  9,  it  concludes  a  strong  and 
passionate  assertion.  But  if  we  follow  the  Revisers,  we  shall  see 
in  the  faithful  saying  ^vhich  follows,  verses  11-13,  a  hymn.  In 
that  case  the  'for'  remains  quite  unexplained,  except  as  part  of 
a  quotation.  Whichever  view  is  taken,  the  truth  of  these  verses 
remains  unaffected:  cf.  Rom.  vi.  8,  viii.  17;  cf.  v.  17,  iii.  3. 
Dr.  Bernard  notices  that  the  phrases  are  all  (except  one  from  Matt. 
X.  33)  taken  from  parallels  in  Paul's  own  Epistles,  and  supposes 
that  Paul  here  is  '  quoting  a  popular  version  of  words  from  his 
own  great  Epistle,  which  had  become  stereotyped  by  liturgical 
use ' ;  to  such  odd  conclusions  are  men  driven  when  they  are  bent 
on  finding  a  justification  of  liturgies  in  the  N.  T. 

died  with  him  in  this  connexion  refers  to  martyrdom. 
13.  he  ahideth  faithful.    It  is  a  consolation  that  our  faithless- 
ness may  be  counteracted  by  his   faithfulness   (Rom.   iii.   3),   as 
Dr.  Bernard  sees  ;  but  that  can  hardly  be  the  reference  here,  for 


II  TIMOTHY  2.  14-17  153 

Of  these  things  put  them  in  remembrance  \  charging  14 
the?n  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  that  they  strive  not  about 
words  ^  to  no  profit  ^  to  the  subverting  ^  of  them  that  hear. 
Give  dihgence  to  present  thyself  approved  unto   God,  15 
a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed  ^^  handhng 
aright  ^  the  word  of  truth.     But  shun  ^  profane  babbhngs  :  16 
for  they  will  proceed  further  in  ungodliness,  and  their  17 

it  destroys  the  whole  connexion  of  the  passage,  God  is  faithful 
in  abiding  by  His  eternal  principles  of  action.  His  faithfulness 
makes  it  impossible  for  Him  to  acknowledge  those  who  deny 
Him.  This  truth  is  not  so  palatable  to  our  day,  but  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that  this  is  the  meaning  in  the  present  context. 

II.  The  warfare  against  error  and  apostasy,     ii.  14 — iv.  8. 

ii.  14 — iii.  9.  Circumstances  existing  among  the  Christians  atnong 
whom  Tiynothy  had  to  work. 

First  there  are  certain  phenomena  which  are  stated  negatively 
and  positively  {^verses  14,  15),  then  the  negative  is  developed 
(16-20),  and  the  positive,  with  a  fresh  recapitulation  of  the  negative 
(22",  23),  is  more  clearly  expressed  (21-26).  Then  iii.  1-9, 
description  of  certain  false  teachers  that  are  to  come. 
15.  approved  vmto  God.     Cf.  2  Cor.  x.  18. 

Chrysostom  took  needeth  not  to  he  ashamed  to  mean  '■  who  is 
not  to  be  put  to  shame.' 

The  meaning  of  '  handling  aright'  may  be  found  from  LXX,  Prov. 
iii.  6,  xi.  5,  'giving  a  right  direction  to  the  word  of  truth,'  i.e. 
applying  the  gospel  fearlessly  and  appropriately,  the  opposite  of 
corrupting  it  '^2  Cor.  ii.  17),  and  contrasted  here  with  striving 
about  words. 

16.  profane  babblings.     See  i  Tim.  vi.  20. 
for  they  (sc.  they  who   utter  the   profane  babblings),  will 
proceed  further  in  ungodliness  :     the  opposite  cf  godliness  for 
which  see  on  i  Tim.  ii.  2. 

^  '  put  them  in  mind '  :  a  word  only  used  by  Paul  here  and  at 
Titus  iii,  i. 

^  'to  strive  with  words'  :  only  here,  but  the  noun  in  i  Tim.  vi,  4, 

^  *  profit ' :   a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

■"  *  subverting  '  :   only  here  in  the  N,  T. 

■'  '  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed '  :  a  word  only  here  in  the 
Greek  Bible. 

^  '  handling  aright '  :  a  word  only  here  in  the  N,  T. 

^  '  shun '  :   the  word  is  only  used  here  and  at  Titus  iii,  g  by  Paul. 


154  n  TIMOTHY  2.  18,  19 

word  will  eat  as  doth  a  gangrene ' :  of  whom  is  Hymen?eus 
iB  and  Philetus ;  men  who  concerning  the  truth  have  erred, 
saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already,  and  over- 
19  throw  ^  the  faith  of  some.      Howbeit^  the  firm^  foun- 
dation of  God  standeth,  having   this   seal,    The   Lord 

spread  (marg. )  :    lit.   '  will  have  pasture,'  a  Greek   medical 
term  for  the  spreading  of  a  disease,  Polyb.  i.  81.  6. 
gangrene :  opposed  to  the  '  healthy  words.' 
Hymenaeus  and  Philetns.     For  the  first  see  i  Tim.  i.  20 ; 
it  seems  that  Paul's  rebuke  had  not  succeeded,  and  this  justifies 
verse  16. 

18.  concerning  the  truth  have  erred :  lit.  missed  the  mark. 
I  Tim.  i.  6,  vi.  21. 

saying  that  the  restirrection  is  past  already.  The  precise 
form  of  this  false  opinion  is  matter  of  conjecture.  Polycarp  (§  7) 
mentions  a  man  who  said  that  there  was  neither  resurrection  nor 
judgement,  and  in  the  sermon  called  2  Clement,  §  9,  there  is 
a  warning  against  saying  that  the  flesh  is  not  judged  and  does  not 
rise.  In  the  Acts  of  Paid  and  Thecla  there  is  mention  of  an 
opinion  that  the  resurrection  was  to  be  sought  in  the  fact  that  we 
live  again  in  our  children,  the  notion  expressed  in  George  Eliot's 
'choir  invisible.'  In  the  second  century  Justin  {Dial.  80)  and 
Irenaeus  (Har.  ii,  31.  2)  refer  to  the  Gnostic  tenet  that  the 
resurrection  was  to  be  understood  allegorically.  But  we  can 
hardly  identify  the  present  opinion  with  any  of  these  later 
developments.  Rather  there  must  have  been  visionaries,  like 
the  Fifth-Monarchy  men  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  probably  they 
thought  that  the  millennium  had  come,  and  death  was  abolished, 
and  the  second  coming  of  Christ  had  taken  place.  It  is  likely 
that  the  'forbidding  to  marry'  (i  Tim.  iv.  3)  was  connected  with 
this  illusion  and  justified  by  Luke  xx  35 ;  Matt.  xix.  12.  Such 
wild  conceptions  have  in  all  ages  of  the  church  subverted  the 
faith  of  many. 

19.  the  firm  foundation  of  God  (see  i  Tim.  iii.  15)  is  the 
Christian  society  which,  in  spite  of  individual  vagaries,  holds  fast 
to  the  truth.  Inscribed  on  this  foundation  are  the  two  truths 
which  are  the  essence  of  a  Christian  church,  viz.  '  The  Lord 
knoweth  them  that  are  his,'  cf.  John  x.  3,  14,  27;  Num.  xvi.  5; 
and,  'Let  every  one  that  nameth,'  &c.,  cf.  Matt.  vii.  23;  Luke 
xiii.    27  ;    I    Cor.   viii.    13,   xiii.    12 ;    Gal,   iv.   9.     The   Christian 

^  '  a  gangrene  ' :  only  here. 

^  'overthrow'  :  a  word  only  here  and  at  Titus  i.  11. 

^  '  howbeit '  and  '  firm '  are  both  words  only  used  here  by  Paul. 


II  TIMOTHY  2.  20,21  155 

knoweth  them  that  are  his :    and,   Let  every  one  that 
nameth  the  name  of  the  Lord  depart  from  unrighteous- 
ness.    Now  in  a  great  house  there  are  not  only  vessels  20 
of  gold  and  of  silver,  but  also  of  wood  and  of  earth  ;  and 
some  unto  honour,  and  some  unto  dishonour.     If  a  man  21 
therefore  purge  himself  from  these,  he  shall  be  a  vessel 


society,  built  on  the  corner-stone  Christ  Jesus — he  is  the  Lord 
here  meant — is  distinguished  by  the  intimate  mutual  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  and  his  members  (see  Paul's  assurance,  ii.  10),  and  by 
the  purity  and  guilelessness  of  those  who  form  his  body.  A  true 
church  can  only  be  composed  of  those  to  whom  God's  knowledge 
of  them  has  brought  a  personal  knowledge  of  acceptance,  and 
who  have  been  so  affected  by  the  name  they  name  as  to  carry  the 
will  of  their  Lord  into  practical  ethics.  It  is  such  a  society — the 
Puritans  dreamed  of  it  and  toiled  for  it — that  is  a  solid  foundation, 
a  security  against  the  vagaries  of  individualism,  a  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth. 

20.  The  thought  of  the  church  as  the  Lord's  house  (cf.  i  Tim. 
iii.  15),  in  which  every  implement  must  be  clean,  suggests  the 
variety  of  members  that  are  needed  to  make  up  the  whole.  All 
may  be  clean,  but  all  cannot  be  for  honour.  Dr.  Bernard  declares 
that  this  is  like  the  parable  of  the  draw-net  (Matt.  xiii.  47),  and 
adds  :  *  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  is  the  only  place  where  Paul 
directly  expresses  the  thought  of  the  church  embracing  evil 
members  as  well  as  good.'  It  is  so  noteworthy  that  if  this  passage 
contained  that  thought,  we  might  suspect  that  it  was  not  Paul's. 
And  Dr.  Bernard  in  his  own  interpretation  falls  into  a  curious 
inconsistency,  for  he  interprets  verse  21  of  purging  out  the  false 
teachers,  shewing  that  it  would  be  the  church's  duty  to  get  rid  of 
evil  members.  But,  natural  as  is  the  desire  to  justify  from 
Scripture  the  conception  of  an  impure  church,  this  passage  gives 
no  countenance  to  it.  In  the  house  the  wooden  things  are  as 
needed  as  the  golden,  and  the  vessels  of  dishonour  are  as  useful 
as  the  vessels  of  honour  (cf.  i  Cor.  xii.  23).  And  this  is  the 
point  of  the  whole  simile.  We  cannot  choose  whether  we  should 
be  gold  and  silver,  or  wood  and  earthenware  ;  nor  can  we  choose 
whether  our  service  shall  be  what  appears  to  men  honourable 
or  the  opposite.  But  each  of  us,  if  he  is  clean,  will  be  counted 
as  a  vessel  unto  honour ;  it  is  sufficient  honour  to  be  of  use  to  the 
Master,  sanctified  and  ready  for  good  works,  however  humble 
the}'  may  be. 

21.  piirg'e  himself  from  tliese.  'These'  can  only  mean  the 
various  false  notions  described  in  verses  14   18. 


156  II  TIMOTHY  2.  22, 23 

unto    honour,    sanctified,   meet   for    the    master's    use, 

22  prepared  unto  every  good  work.     But  flee  youthful  lusts, 
and  follow  after  righteousness,  faith,  love,  peace,  with 

23  them  that  call  on  the  Lord  out  of  a  pure  heart.     But 
foolish  and  ignorant  questionings  refuse,  knowing  that 

meet   for  .  .  .  use    is   the   word    in  iv.   ii    and  applied   to 
Onesimus  in  Philem.  ii. 

22.  flee  yonthftil  lusts.  The  older  man  speaks  to  the 
younger.  One  feels  that  such  a  warning  implies  a  certain  weak- 
ness in  Timothy,  as  'the  Lord's  servant  must  not  strive,'  verse  24, 
implies  that  Timothy  was  inclined  to  do  so.  But  another  view 
is  possible.  This  passage  (ii.  22)  is  exactly  parallel  to  i  Tim.  vi.  ir. 
'Flee  youthful  lusts'  corresponds  to  'flee  these  things,'  and 
'  these  things '  were  the  errors  and  practices  of  the  hetero-teachers. 
From  iii.  6  and  iv,  3  it  is  evident  that  these  men,  under  cover 
of  their  teaching,  practised  sexual  immoralities.  And  it  may  be 
these  lusts,  of  the  kind  into  which  young  men  naturally  fall,  that 
Timothy  is  to  avoid;  and  then  the  contrast,  in  rig'hteousness, 
faith,  love,  &:c.,  exactly  corresponds  to  that  in  i  Tim.  vi.  11. 
Only  here  is  added  peace,  with  them  that  call  on  the  lK>rd, 
which  seems  to  suggest  that  in  his  contention  with  members  of 
the  flock  Timothy  had  shewn  some  hastiness  of  temper,  or 
a  disposition  to  contention. 

23-26.  The  folly  and  ignorance  of  the  false  teaching  gender 
strife,  and  the  Lord's  servant  must  not  strive,  but  try  to  recover 
the  victims  of  error  ^ 

23.  The  word  ignorant  is  in  the  Greek  the  negative  of  *  correct- 
ing'; we  could  keep  this  connexion  by  translating  *  uninstructed 
questions,'  i.  e.  questions  unworthy  of  a  trained  mind,  and 
'  instructing  them  that  oppose  themselves.'  This  latter  phrase 
also  may  be  connected  with  the  'oppositions'  of  i  Tim.  vi.  20, 
and  may  mean  '  those  who  are  only  capable  of  making  endless 
verbal  antitheses,  or  contradictory  statements.'  We  have  seen 
that  all  through,  Paul's  crusade  against  the  prevalent  lines  of 
teaching  is  based  upon  their  emptiness  and  futility.  There  is 
a  caustic  saying  of  a  college  don  that  the  discussion  whether 
the  planets  are  inhabited  was  one  eminently  suited  for  theology, 
because  no  evidence  was  available  on  either  side  of  the  question. 

^  These  four  verses  contain  five  words,  viz.  '  ignorant,'  *  gentle,' 
*  forbearing,'  '  oppose  themselves,'  and  '  recover  themselves,'  not 
found  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible,  and  a  conjunction  *  if  haply  ' 
never  used  by  Paul. 


II  TIMOTHY    2.  24-26  157 

they  gender  strifes.     And  the  Lord's  servant  must  not  34 
strive,  but  be  gentle  towards  all,  apt  to  teach,  forbearing, 
in  meekness  correcting  them  that  oppose  themselves ;  if  25 
peradventure  God  may  give  them  repentance  unto  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  they  may  recover  themselves  26 

It  is  discussion  of  this  kind,  speculative,  remote  from  life  and  fact, 
which  leads  to  the  bitterest  of  verbal  wrangles,  and  is  in  the  end 
as  fatal  to  religion  as  sensuality,  with  which,  strange  to  say, 
it  easily  connects  itself;  for  if  thought  is  diverted  to  empty  and 
barren  discussions,  it  renounces  its  proper  religious  function  of 
grasping  the  verities  which,  as  ideas,  move  the  will  and  cleanse 
the  passions.  Thus  while  the  brain  is  idly  occupied,  the  corrupt 
nature,  left  to  itself,  falls  into  uncleanness.  (Cf.  i  Tim.  i.  4,  7, 
iv.  7,  vi.  4,  20 ;  Titus  iii.  9.  These  parallels  in  the  three  Epistles 
should  be  used  to  illustrate  each  other,  though  the  greater 
severity  of  Paul  in  2  Timothy  seems  to  imply  that  the  heresy  had 
gone  farther  than  in  i  Timothy  and  Titus,  and  deserved  a  more 
uncompromising  suppression.) 

25.  For  meekness  refer  to  the  supreme  example,  Matt.  xi.  29. 
repentance :    only  twice,  besides  here,  does  Paul  use  this 

word,  Rom.  ii.  4  ;  2  Cor.  vii.  9,  10. 

knowledgre  of  the  truth:  so  iii.  7;  see  i  Tim.  ii.  4. 

26.  return  to  soberness  :  as  in  margin  (the  verb  with  another 
compound  in  i  Cor.  xv.  34). 

That  the  snare  of  the  devil  (cf.  on  i  Tim,  iii.  6)  is  a  spiritual 
drunkenness  is  a  most  striking  suggestion :  for  in  that  case 
intoxication  represents  visibly  the  diabolical  possession  of  man. 
A  distinguished  brewer  once  spoke  of  drink  as  the  devil  in 
solution.  And  in  the  same  way  the  devil's  method  of  taking 
men  captive  is  to  benumb  the  conscience,  confuse  the  senses,  and 
paralyse  the  will.  This  is  effected  sometimes  by  the  excitation 
of  phj'sical  passions,  sometimes  by  the  daring  promulgation  of 
religious  lies  or  superstitions,  but  often,  as  here,  by  diverting  the 
mind  with  trivialities  and  the  vanity  of  empty  discussions,  so  that 
it  does  not  settle  steadily  on  the  ideas  of  God,  the  Soul,  and  Life, 
or  on  the  facts  of  Sin,  Redemption,  and  Salvation. 

By  a  faithful  ministry  the  servant  of  God  may  win  men  to 
repentance,  so  that  they  may  be  taken  captive  (Jit.  '  taken  alive  ') 
by  him  unto  the  will  of  God. 

The  Revisers  have  settled  the  meaning  of  this  last  clause  by 
boldly  putting  for  the  two  pronouns  the  lK>rd's  servant  and  God. 
That  is  the  only  rendering  which  does  justice  to  the  distinction 
of  the  pronouns,  nor  is  it  possible  in  English  to  bring  out  the  sense 
except  by  substituting  for  them  the  implied  noun.     Dr.  Bernard 


158  II  TIMOTHY  3.  i 

out  of  the  snare  of  the  devil,  having  been  taken  captive  ^ 
by  the  Lord's  servant  unto  the  will  of  God. 
3      But  know  this,  that  in  the  last  days  grievous  -  times 

prefers  the  rendering  suggested  in  the  margin,  thinking  that  the 
'by  him'  could  not  refer  to  the  distant  subject,  the  Lord's  servant, 
but  must  necessarily  refer  to  the  nearer  subject,  the  devil.  But 
as  the  main  subject  of  the  sentence  is  the  Lord's  servant,  it  is 
quite  natural  that  a  pronoun  not  otherwise  designated  should 
refer  to  him.  And  the  meaning  Dr.  Bernard's  rendering  gets  out 
of  the  words  is  far  too  intricate  and  far-fetched  to  commend  itself, 
viz.  that  the  heretics  have  been  taken  captive  by  the  devil, 
but  are  now  recovered  in  order  to  do  God's  will.  If  this  were 
the  meaning  it  may  be  surmised  that  Timothy,  no  less  than  we, 
would  have  needed  a  commentary  to  understand  his  master's 
letter. 

iii.  1-9.     Characteristics  of  the  false  teachers  of  the  future'^ . 

'  The  prophecy,'  say  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff,  '  betrays  itself 
flagrantly  as  a  description  of  the  present.'  For  this  judgement 
verses  5,  9  are  referred  to.  And  it  must  be  owned  that  these 
verses  cannot  be  explained  except  as  a  comment  on  facts  actually 
before  the  Apostle's  eye.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  only  verse 
I  that  is  in  the  strict  sense  a  prophecy.  He  dips  into  the  future 
and  sees  hard  times  in  the  last  days  ;  but  he  at  once  returns 
to  justify  his  expectation  by  noting  the  signs  of  the  present  times 
(cf.  I  Tim.  iv.  i).  It  must  be  remembered  that  to  Paul  the  last 
days  were  not  a  distant  future  :  the  time  was  at  hand  :  the  judge 
was  at  the  gate,  and  '  not  far  off  he  seemed  to  hear  the  thunder  of 
his  chariot-wheels.'  Like  John  (i  John  ii.  18),  he  felt  that  he  was 
living  in  the  last  times,  and  in  recollection,  perhaps,  of  the  Lord's 
own  apocalyptical  utterances,  he  saw  in  the  corruption  and  heresy 

^  *  taken  captive ' :  the  word  not  used  by  Paul,  but  only  at  Luke  v.  i  o. 

^  *  grievous  ' :  the  word  nowhere  else  in  Paul,  and  in  the  N.  T.  only 
Matt.  viii.  28. 

^  These  nine  verses  contain  no  fewer  than  fifteen  words  peculiar  in 
some  sense  to  this  passage  :  '  lovers  of  self  '  (not  in  the  Greek  Bible), 
implacable'  .not  in  the  Greek  Bible),  Svithout  self-control'  (not  in 
the  Greek  Testament), '  fierce  '  (not  in  the  Greek  Bible),  '  without  love 
for  good*  (not  in  the  Greek  literature),  'traitors,'  *  headstrong'  (not 
in  Paul),  Movers  of  pleasure'  (not  in  the  N.  T.),  *  lovers  of  God'  fnot 
in  the  Greek  Bible),  *  turn  away'  (not  in  the  N.  T.),  'creep  into'  (not 
in  the  N.  T.),  'silly  women'  (diminutive  only  here),  '  divers  '  (in  Paul 
confined  to  the  Pastorals,  Titus  iii.  3),  *  corrupted  '  (not  in  the  N.  T.}, 
*  manifest '  (not  in  the  N.  T.). 


II  TIMOTHY   3.   2-5  159 

shall  come.  For  men  shall  be  lovers  of  self,  lovers  of  2 
money,  boastful,  haughty,  railers,  disobedient  to  parents, 
unthankful,  unholy,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  3 
slanderers,  without  self-control,  fierce,  no  lovers  of  good, 
traitors,  headstrong,  puffed  up,  lovers  of  pleasure  rather  4 
than  lovers  of  God ;  holding  a  form  of  godliness,  but  5 
having  denied  the  power  thereof:  from  these  also  turn 

of  believers  a  sign  of  the  last  times.  '  When  the  Son  of  man 
Cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  in  the  earth  1 '  So  far  then  from  treating 
this  and  the  other  passage  in  i  Tim.  iv.  i  as  independent 
prophecies,  it  is  a  juster  view  to  regard  Paul  as  recalling  the 
prophecies,  and  what  *  the  Spirit  saith,'  to  confirm  faith  by  shew- 
ing that  what  has  come  to  pass  was  foretold.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  suppose  that  a/ 1  the  features  in  verses  1-8  were  already  realized, 
but  from  what  he  actually  saw  he  filled  in  the  details  of  what  was 
yet  to  be.     All  Apocalyptic  is  of  this  character. 

1.  the  last  days:  taken  from  Isa.  ii.  2:  cf.  Acts  ii.  17;  Jas. 
V.  3,  points  to  a  more  remote  period  than  the  'later  times'  of 
I  Tim.  iv.  I.  That  Paul  felt  these  hard  times  alread}'  present 
(i  Cor.  vii.  26;  Gal.  i.  4;  Eph.  v.  16)  only  confirms  what  has 
just  been  said  about  the  close  connexion  of  the  last  daj's  with  the 
present.     We  are  reminded  of  2  Pet.  iii.  3  and  Jude  18. 

2.  Cf.  Rom.  i.  29-31. 

lovers  of  self.  Philo  (de  Pro/.  15)  speaks  of  Movers  of  self 
rather  than  lovers  of  God.' 

boastful  and  haughty  :  word  and  thought ;  cf.  Rom.  i.  30. 

without  self-control  f  Prov.  xxvii.  20)  :  the  noun  i  Cor.  vii.  5. 
In  Greek  the  common  word  for  one  who  is  at  the  mercy  of 
his  passions. 

4.  puffed  up.     See  on  i  Tim.  iii.  6. 

lovers  of  pleasure  rather  than  lovers  of  God.  There  is  an 
interesting  parallel  in  Philo  {cie  Agric.  §  19),  who  speaks  of  making 
one  '  a  lover  of  pleasure  and  a  lover  of  passion  rather  than  a  lover 
of  virtue  and  a  lover  of  God.' 

5.  holding  a  form  of  godliness,  but  having  denied  the  power 
(cf  Rom.  ii.  20):  this  is  paralleled  by  Titus  i.  16.  The  word  used 
for  '  form '  does  not  mean  the  philosophical  '  form,'  which  is  the 
essence,  but  the  hypocritical  *  form,'  which  is  the  denial,  of  a 
thing.  This  inimitable  description  of  a  ceremonial  religion  was 
prophetic  of  later  days.  '  It  is,'  says  Wiesinger,  'a  new  heathen- 
dom under  a  Christian  name.' 

from  these . . .  turn  away :  of  course  plainly  shews  that  Paul 
is  speaking  of  actual  persons  and  not  of  future  apostates. 


i6o  II  TIMOTHY  3.  6-9 

6  away.  For  of  these  are  they  that  creep  into  houses, 
and  take  captive  silly  women  laden  with  sins,  led  away 

7  by  divers  lusts,  ever  learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to 

8  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  And  like  as  Jannes  and 
Jambres  withstood  Moses,  so  do  these  also  withstand  the 
truth ;  men  corrupted  in  mind,  reprobate  concerning  the 

9  faith.  But  they  shall  proceed  no  further  :  for  their  folly 
shall  be  evident  unto  all  men,  as  theirs  also  came  to  be. 

6.  silly  women.  It  is  not  the  peculiarity  of  the  Gnostic 
systems  of  the  second  century,  but  the  conimon  feature  of  all 
empty  or  sensuous  forms  of  religion,  that  men,  under  cover  of 
teaching,  seduce  and  corrupt  unheeding  women.  This  passage 
therefore  is  no  argument  for  the  later  date.  As  the  passions  of 
men  are  strong,  and  the  hearts  of  women  are  trustful,  wherever 
evil  and  error  are,  the  things  suggested  in  this  verse  occur.  The 
mastery  of  the  passions,  on  the  other  hand,  and  the  security  of 
female  virtue  are  found  only  in  a  living  and  redemptive  power  of 
God,  working  not  in  forms,  but  in  the  Spirit. 

6.  led  away  toy  divers  lusts :  i  Tim.  vi.  9  ;  Titus  iii.  3. 

*7.  ever  learning',  &c. ,  applies  to  the  women,  not  the  teachers. 
It  is  significant  that  the  mind  which  gives  itself  to  idle  specula- 
tions *  finds  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost,'  and  becomes  unable 
to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  truth. 

8.  Jannes  and  Jamtores.  In  the  Jewish  tradition  these  names 
are  given  to  the  magicians  ofExod.  vii.  11-22.  In  the  Targum  of 
Jonathan  on  that  passage  they  are  said  to  be  the  sons  of  Balaam. 
Origen  thought  Paul  was  quoting  from  an  apocryphal  book,  Jannes 
et  Mambres  liber.  It  is  curious  that  both  Pliny  and  Apuleius  know 
of  Moses  and  Jannes  together  as  magicians  living  after  Zoroaster. 
The  comparison  with  these  men  cannot  be  pressed  ;  the  word 
*  impostors'  in  verse  13  hardly  justifies  us  in  ascribing  to  the  false 
teachers  magical  pretensions. 

cormpted  in  mind:  i  Tim.  vi.  5. 

reprotoate  concerning  the  faith :  Titus  i.  16 ;  i  Tim.  i.  19. 
Ck.  they  shall  proceed  no  farther.  Assuming  that  the  false 
teachers  are  the  same  here  as  in  ii.  16,  the  words  seem  to  be  the 
exact  contradiction  of  the  words  there,  but  it  is  not  so  ;  the 
contradiction  is  only  verbal.  They  will  proceed  further  in  ungod- 
liness, and  as  that  senselessness  will  be  their  ruin,  they  will 
proceed  no  further  in  their  career. 

as  theirs  also:  Exod.  viii,  18,  ix.  ii. 

iii.  10 — iv.  8.  Resumes  the  personal  exhortation  to  Titnothy,  like 
i.  6 — ii.  13. 


II  TIMOTHY  3.  10,  II  i6i 

But  thou  didst  follow  my  teaching,  conduct ',  purpose,  lo 
faith,  longsuffering,  love,  patience,  persecutions,  suffer-  n 
ings ;  what  things  befell  me  at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at 
Lystra ;  what  persecutions  I  endured :  and  out  of  them 

10.  But  thou  (in  contrast  with  the  false  teachers)  didst 
follow  (at  the  outset  of  his  Christian  life):  sc.  when  Timothy  at 
Lystra  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Paul  as  a  man,  who,  carry- 
ing a  great  teaching,  was  despised,  stoned,  driven  from  city  to 
city.  This  reminiscence  of  the  first  days  of  their  meeting  is  very 
natural  for  an  elder  man,  in  solitary  confinement,  going  over  the 
past.  And  this  psychological  suitability  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
the  remark  of  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff":  '  If  Paul  were  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle,  it  would  be  impossible  to  understand  why  he 
should  choose  to  instance  these  persecutions  of  the  first  missionary 
journey  (Acts  xiii,  xiv),  when  Timothy  was  not  yet  in  his  com- 
pany. But  to  the  actual  writer  of  the  Epistle,  these  persecutions, 
as  the  first,  lay  nearest  to  hand,  and  it  never  occurred  to  him  that 
Timothy  was  not  there  at  the  time.'  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
writer  does  not  imply  that  Timothy  was  present  at  those  sufferings, 
but  that  he  took  the  course  of  teaching,  conduct,  purpose,  faith, 
&c.  (viz.  Paul's),  which,  as  he  well  knev/,  led  to  those  famous 
persecutions.  It  was  the  fact  that  Timothy  came  from  that 
region  of  suffering  (Acts  xiii.  50 ;  xiv.  i  f.,  8  f ,  xvi.  i),  and  yet 
deliberately  chose  to  follow  the  prime  sufferer,  that  gave  Paul 
confidence  in  him  now,  and  led  to  this  exhortation  to  stand  fast, 
in  spite  of  the  deliration  of  the  magicians  of  heresy.  To  this 
ground  of  confidence  he  adds  soon  (14-17)  the  early  grounding  in 
the  inspired  Scriptures  which  Timothy  had  received. 

faith,  longsuffering,  love,  patience.  Paul's  injunction  to 
imitate  his  virtues,  and  his  enumeration  of  them,  is  relieved  from 
egotism  by  the  conception  underlying  his  theology,  that  it  is  '  God 
that  worketh  in  us  to  will  and  to  do.'  It  cannot  be  urged  that 
this  egotism  of  humility  is  unlike  Paul  and  therefore  a  reason  for 
suspecting  his  authorship  here.  '  Be  ye  imitators  of  me,'  '  1  would 
to  God  that  you  were  altogether  such  as  I  except  these  bonds,'  is 
the  tone  which  is  characteristic  of  him,  especially  in  these  later 
days. 

11.  The  mention  of  patience  leads  him  from  graces  to  perse- 
cutions, and  with  Timothy  in  mind  he  naturally  recalls  the 
persecutions  which  befell  him  in  and  around  Timothy's  home. 
'  What  things,'  *  what  persecutions,'  rather, '  such  things  as,' '  such 
persecutions  as,'  because  he  is  dwelling  not  so  much  on  the 
instances  as  on  the  kind  of  instances. 

*  *  conduct ' :  a  word  not  used  elsewhere  in  the  N.T. 
M 


i62  II  TIMOTHY   3.  12,  13 

12  all  the  Lord  delivered  me.     Yea,  and  all  that  would  live 

13  godly '  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution.     But  evil 
men  and  impostors  '^  shall  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiving 

out  of  them  all :  not  only  those  in  southern  Galatia,  but  the 
more  serious  troubles  at  Philippi,  at  Ephesus,  at  Jerusalem,  and 
Caesarea,  and  even  the  first  imprisonment  at  Rome.  God  always 
delivered  him  until  now  ;  and  the  deliverance  which  now  awaited 
him  was  the  best  of  all   (iv.  8). 

12.  all  that  would  live  grodly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer 
persecution.  This  is  implied  in  Matt.  v.  10  and  perhaps  John  xv. 
20.  The  life  in  Christ  Jesus  is  a  life  of  spiritual  or  mystical 
identification  with  him,  and  consequently  it  involves  a  partaking 
of  his  sufferings  as  surely  as  a  partaking  of  his  victory.  The 
certainty,  therefore,  of  persecutions  does  not  depend  on  the  accident 
of  a  persecuting  government  or  society  :  Nero  or  Domitian  is 
but  the  outward  minister  of  a  bad  and  persecuting  world.  The 
persecution  in  the  Christian  life  is  intrinsic  ;  as  common  in  Christian 
England  as  in  heathen  China  ;  endured  as  truly  by  the  faithful  in 
the  kindly  atmosphere  of  the  church  as  by  the  missionary  pioneer 
in  the  midst  of  savages  or  heathen  powers.  The  persecution 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  life  in  Christ  is  alien  to  this  present 
world,  and  involves  an  inward  and  constant  crucifixion  of  lusts  and 
tendencies,  which  the  world  admits,  but  which  Christ  destroys. 
Consequently,  not  the  least  tragic  of  sufferings  have  been  those  of 
Molinos  or  Madame  Guyon  ;  those  of  Covenanters,  Puritans,  and 
Stundists  ;  those  of  persons  who  to-day  are  set  on  the  ways  of  God 
and  the  fullness  of  life  in  Christ ;  though  in  all  these  cases  it  is  a 
Christian  society  and  a  Christian  church  that  inflicts  the  persecu- 
tion. The  life  of  Christ,  in  which  the  believer  shares,  is  a  life 
which,  if  not  against,  is  always  athwart,  the  world.  Its  motives 
and  springs,  its  standards  and  precepts,  its  modes  and  develop- 
ments, its  goal  and  its  ends,  are  as  different  from  the  world's  as 
light  is  from  darkness.  And  as  day  and  night  are  the  perpetual 
battle  between  the  light  and  the  darkness,  so  the  Christian  life  is 
an  unceasing  struggle  against  principalities  and  powers,  and  the 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world.  The  woman  flees  to  the 
wilderness,  and  the  dragon  follows  her  with  his  engulfing  flood. 

13.  impostors*  lit.  'wizards'  or  'conjurors,'  suggested  by 
the  comparison  with  Jannes  and  Jambres. 

shall  wax  worse  and  worse  :  ch.  ii.  16,  they  will  proceed  to 

^  '  godly.'  This  adverb  occurs  only  here  and  at  Titus  ii.  12  in  the 
N.T. 

^  *  impostors.'  The  word  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the  Greek 
Bible. 


II  TIMOTHY    3.  i.t,  15  163 

and  being  deceived.     But  abide  thou  in  the  things  which  14 
thou  hast  learned  and  hast  been  assured  o{\  knowing  of 
whom  thou  hast  learned  them ;   and  that  from  a  babe  i ;; 
thou  hast  known  the  sacred  ^  writings  which  are  able  to 

even  greater  lengths  of  ungodliness  along  the  road  of  deceit,  where 
the  deceiver  is  always  himself  the  most  deceived.  And  yet,  as 
verse  9  says,  they  will  proceed  no  further  ;  their  very  deceit  will 
be  their  ruin,  for  the  worse  men  get,  the  more  surely  are  they 
discovered.  This  paradox  of  progress  and  no  progress,  of  apparent 
success  and  actual  failure,  is  curiously  illustrated  by  the  history  of 
the  Jesuits.  Within  a  generation  they  covered  the  earth  :  '  Quae 
regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  laboris  ? '  was  their  boast.  Their 
workings  and  their  powers  have  never  ceased  :  Pascal  riddled  their 
ethics,  but  Alphonso  vindicated  their  worst  impostures ;  a  pope 
suppressed  the  order,  and  half  a  century  after  another  pope 
restored  it ;  they  have  been  formally  ejected  from  nearly  every 
country  in  Europe  ;  at  present  they  are  twisting  their  shackles 
around  the  vitals  of  Germany,  England,  and  America.  And  yet 
with  all  their  progress  they  proceed  no  further.  Their  folly 
becomes  evident  with  each  generation.  Their  perverted  ethics, 
their  underhand  machinations,  their  misguided  faith  in  the  virtue 
of  the  crushed  will,  are  always  rousing  men  afresh  to  shake  off 
the  seduction  and  to  crush  the  imposture.  And  as  verses  14-17 
remind  us  in  the  case  of  those  first  perverters  of  the  gospel,  the 
Holy  Scriptures  abide  in  constant  protest  against  them,  so  that 
whoever  is  instructed  in  the  Bible  is  impregnable  against  all  the 
guile,  subtlety,  and  far-reaching  designs  of  the  Jesuit. 

14.  knowingr  from  whom.  The  best  MSS.  make  'whom' 
plural,  in  which  case  it  would  refer  to  Timothy's  mother  and 
grandmother,  according  to  verse  15.  But  the  texius  recepttis 
has  the  singular,  in  which  case  it  would  refer  to  Paul,  whose 
teaching  Timothy  followed,  and  verse  15  would  go  on  to  adduce 
another  fact  from  Timothy's  infancy.  The  Revisers  take  the  side 
of  the  leading  MSS. 

15.  the  sacred  writingfs.  Following  the  Revised  text  we  must 
omit  the  article,  and  it  would  be  better  to  read  *  hast  known  sacred 
letters.*  It  is  the  word  in  John  vii.  15  and  v.  47.  And  in  this 
case  it  would  point  to  the  written  truth  as  opposed  to  merely 
oral  teaching  (Rom.  i.  2  ;  ii.  27),  But  if,  with  the  majority  of 
MSS.,  we  retain  the  article,  then  the  term  'the  holy  writings' 
is  the  technical  term,  used  in  Philo  and  Josephus,  for  the  O.  T. 
writings.      The  phrase  was  first  applied  to  the  N.  T.,   and  the 

'  '  assured  of  ' :  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  the  N.  T. 

^  '  sacred,'  only  here  in  the  N.  T.  is  the  word  applied  to  writings. 

M  2 


i64  n  TIMOTHY   3.  i6 

make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in 
1 6  Christ  Jesus.     Every  scripture'  inspired^  of  God  is  also 

word  'inspired'  was  first  used  of  the  N.  T.  writings  by  Clement 
of  Alexandria  at  the  end  of  the  second  century  {Strom,  i.  20,  §  98  ; 
vii.  16,  §  loi). 

which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise.  Paul  was  very  clear 
that  even  without  the  O.  T.  men  might  be  saved  (Rom.  ii.  14  ;  ix. 
30) ;  he  cannot  therefore  mean  that  these  ancient  writings  were 
necessary  to  salvation.  But  he  dwells  on  their  abiding  power  to 
make  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  If  the 
Scriptures,  whether  the  O.  T.  or  the  N.  T.,  make  us  wise  unto 
salvation  it  is  because  they  lead  us  to  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  And 
if,  without  Scripture,  men  are  led  to  salvation,  it  is  because, 
unknown  to  themselves,  they  have  gained  a  faith  in  him  '  that 
lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the  world.'  But  Paul  evidently 
regarded  the  O.  T.  Scriptures  as  'they  which  testify  of  Christ. 
And  the  Christ-given  exposition  of  them  in  Luke  xxiv.  27  was 
essentially  the  possession  of  Christians  from  the  first.  It  may 
truly  be  said  that  the  use  made  of  the  O.  T.  by  the  apostles,  and 
especially  by  Paul,  is  often  allegorical  and  apparently  arbitrary. 
Passages  are  quoted  out  of  their  context,  and  with  reference  to 
things  which  the  writers  never  dreamed  of;  frequently  the  force 
of  the  quotation  is  found  in  the  LXX  version  and  not  in  the  original 
Hebrew,  and  sometimes  words  are  quoted  as  Scripture  which 
are  not  found  in  our  O.  T.  But  the  Scriptures  are  not  the  less 
able  to  make  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ  because 
allegorical  and  other  methods  of  interpretation  are  applicable  to 
them.  In  proportion  as  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  transforms,  by 
possessing,  the  intepreter,  it  has  been  found  from  the  days  of 
Origen  to  those  of  Swedenborg  that  the  O.  T.  from  beginning  to 
end  forms  a  text-book  for  the  preaching  of  Jesus.  The  text-book 
may,  as  Paul  saw,  be  read  with  a  veil  on  the  heart,  with  the  result 
that  Jesus  is  not  manifest  in  the  O.  T.  ;  but  directly  men  turn  to 
the  Lord  the  veil  is  taken  away,  and  all  the  Scriptures  are  found 
eloquent  of  him. 

16.  Every  scripture.  In  the  fifty  places  where  this  word 
occurs  in  the  N.  T.  it  means  the  O.T.  'Every  scripture':  each 
individual  writing  in  what  Paul  and  others  more  generally  call 
'Holy  Scriptures'  (Rom.  i.  2),  or 'Prophetic  Scriptures'  (xvi.  26) 
in  the  plural. 

is  inspired  of  God  :  so  the  A.  V.    But  the  older  interpreters — 


'  '  scripture.'    The  singular  not  elsewhere  used  by  Paul  (so  used  In 
Acts  viii.  32,  35). 

^  *  inspired  '  :  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


II  TIMOTHY   3.  17  165 

profitable  for  teaching,  for  reproof  \  for  correction  \  for 
instruction  which  is  in  righteousness:   that  the  man  of  i; 
God  may  be  complete  \  furnished  completely  ^  unto  every 
good  work. 

Origen,  the  Vulgate  and  Syriac ;  Luther,  WycHffe,  Tyndale, 
Coverdale— and  our  Revisers  put  the  predicate,  which  is  unex- 
pressed, after  the  word  :  '  every  scripture  inspired  of  God  is 
profitable.'  The  meaning  is  not  materially  altered  either  way ; 
for  in  any  case  we  must  understand  by  Scripture  the  O.T.  as 
commonly  received  and  admitted  to  be  inspired  in  Paul's  time ; 
and  it  matters  not  whether  the  statement  made  here  is  that 
Scripture  being  inspired  is  profitable,  or  that  Scripture  is  inspired 
and  also  profitable.  The  former  is  more  in  keeping  with  the 
context,  for  Paul's  point  is  that  the  training  Timothy  had  received 
was  the  kind  to  furnish  him  completely  for  his  work,  and  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture  was  not  in  question  (2  Pet.  i.  21). 

Whether  the  so-called  Apocrypha,  or  any  of  them,  were  included 
in  the  idea  of  Scripture  when  this  was  written  ;  whether  we  are 
justified  with  Clement  in  bringing  under  this  designation  the  N.  T. 
writings,  to  which  2  Timothy  itself  belongs  ;  whether  in  dealing 
with  the  writings  of  the  N.T.,  classed  as  inspired,  ought  to  be 
excluded  some  that  are  in,  or  included  some  that  are  out  (Irenaeus, 
for  example,  speaks  of  Hermas  as  Scripture — Hatch,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  p.  320)  ;  and  what  is  to  be  understood  by  the  word 
inspired,  whether  it  precludes  errors,  and  practically  ehminates  a 
human  element,  or  how  far  the  human  element  is  reconcilable 
with  inspiration  ;— these  are  momentous  questions,  but  they  are 
not  in  the  least  affected  by  the  passage  before  us. 

inspired,  i  Clement  45  -  imitates  this  :  '  the  true  scriptures 
which  are  through  the  Holy  Ghost.'  'About  the  measure  and 
means  of  this  Divine  afflatus  nothing  is  said'  (von  Soden  in 
Hand-Commc7ttar). 

If  inspired  it  must  be  'profitable  for  teaching,  reproof,  and 
correction, and  for  discipline  in  righteousness';  but  it  is  a  further 
dogmatic  assertion  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  O.  T.  are  sufficient  to 
make  the  man  of  God  (i  Tim.  vi.  11)  complete  and  thoroughly 
furnished  unto  every  good  work.  Certainly,  to  justify  this  broad 
statement,  we  must  constantly  understand  '  through  faith  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus.' 

*  The  words  for  'reproof,'  'correction,'  'complete,'  are  only  here  in 
the  N.  T.,  and  '  furnished  completely  '  is  a  term  not  elsewhere  used 
by  Paul. 


1 66  II  TIMOTHY  4.  1-4 

4  I  charge  thee  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  of  Christ  Jesus, 
who  shall  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  by  his 

2  appearing  and  his  kingdom ;  preach  the  word ;  be 
instant  in  season,  out  of  season^;  reprove,  rebuke-,  exhort, 

3  with  all  longsuffering  and  teaching.  For  the  time  will 
come  when  they  will  not  endure  the  sound  doctrine  ;  but, 
having  itching "  ears,  will  heap  to  themselves  ^  teachers  after 

4  their  own  lusts ;  and  will  turn  away  their  ears  from  the 

iv.  1-8  rises  to  a  passionate  exhortation  to  Timothy  to  be  earnest, 
in  view  of  (i)  the  growing  poiver  of  error,  and  of  (2)  Paul's 
approaching  death. 

1.  Z  charge  thee.     Cf.  i  Tim.  v.  21. 
appearing*.     See  on  i  Tim.  vi.  14. 

2.  preach,  "be  instant,  reprove,  &c.  These  are  aorist  and  not 
present  imperatives.  The  tense  therefore  lays  stress  on  the 
individual  act,  and  not  on  its  perpetual  repetition. 

the  word  (ii.  9,  15)  :  i.e.  the  Divine  message  of  the  gospel 
(Gal.  vi.  6  ;  Col.  iv.  3). 

in  season,  otvt  of  season.  Latin  :  opportune,  importune. 
Needless  to  say,  '  be  instant '  does  not  refer  to  preaching  ;  it  means 
*  keep  steadily  pressing  on  in  all  the  duties  of  an  evangelist,  at  all 
times,  and  under  all  circumstances';  we  are  no  judges  of  which  is 
'in  season'  and  which  is  'out  of  season,'  It  is  ours  to  be  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  for,  strictly 
speaking,  in  that  work  there  is  no  season,  but  every  day  is  sowing, 
spring-tide,  and  harvest. 

lonofsiifFariug  and  teaching :  the  latter,  because  reproof  with- 
out instruction  is  negative,  and  it  is  more  important  to  tell  men 
what  they  ought,  than  what  they  ought  not,  to  do  ;  the  former, 
because  the  best  efforts  of  the  worker  for  God  will  not  be  visibly  suc- 
cessful, or  overcome  the  lasting  opposition  ofworldlinessand  error. 

3.  Por  the  time  will  come.  As  we  saw  in  iii.  1-9,  the  time 
that  will  come,  in  Paul's  mind,  to  a  great  extent  already  is. 

soiind  doctrine:  i  Tim.  i.  10. 

having  itching  ears  :  Wycliffe's  translation.  Hearers  who 
wish  to  be  tickled  with  novelty,  eloquence,  or  wit,  instead  of 
desiring  only  the  health-giving  truths  of  the  gospel. 

*  '  in  season,  out  of  season  '  :  two  words  not  used  as  adverbs  else- 
where by  Paul  (but  as  verbs  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  12  ;   Phil.  iv.  10). 

^  *  rebuke  ' :  a  word  not  elsewhere  used  by  Paul. 

^  *  heap  to  themselves  '  :  a  v.ord  nowhere  else  in  the  Greek  Bible; 
also  *  itching.' 


II  TIMOTHY  4.  5-8  167 

truths  and  turn  aside  unto  fables.     But  be  thou  sober  in  5 
all  things,  suffer  hardship,  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist, 
fulfil '  thy  ministry.     For  I  am  already  being  offered,  and  6 
the  time  of  my  departure  ^  is  come.     I  have  fought  the  7 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  the  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith  :    henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  8 

4.  fables  :  myths.  (Cf.  ii.  17  ;  i  Tim.  i.  4,  iv.  7;  Titus  i.  14.) 
The  baseless  Haggadoth  of  Essenes  and  Judaizers. 

5.  be  thou  sober.     See  on  ii.  26,  also  i  Tim.  iii.  2. 
suffer  hardship :  i.  8,  ii.  3. 

evangelist  (Acts  xxi.  8;  Eph.  iv.  11),  This  does  not  mean 
that  there  was  a  special  order  of  evangelists,  but  that  the  work  of 
proclaiming  the  good  news  (i  Cor.  i.  17) — and  that  is  the  meaning 
of  evangelize — as  it  had  been  the  chief  work  of  an  apostle,  Paul, 
must  be  the  chief  work  of  his  successor,  who  could  not  be  an 
apostle,  Timothy.  The  apostolate  ceased  with  that  generation  : 
the  evangelist  must  exist  until  the  good  news  is  known  by  all  the 
world. 

ministry:  ///.  'diaconate.'  See  for  the  general  use  i  Tim.  i,  12. 

6.  I  am  . . .  being-  offered :  sc.  poured  out  as  a  libation  :  cf.  Phil, 
ii.  17  ;  the  prison  walls  recall  the  same  image.  Then  it  was  '  if  I  am 
poured  out '  ;  now  it  is  '  I  am  being  poured  out.'  Seneca  used  the 
same  image  of  his  death  ;  so  did  Ignatius.  The  contrast  with  the 
situation  in  Philippians  may  be  further  noted,  Phil,  i,  23,  'having 
the  desire  to  depart' ;  here  the  time  of  my  departure  is  com.e. 
Also  Phil.  iii.  13,  14,  he  is  pressing  on  to  the  goal ;  here  he  has 
reached  it. 

departure.  The  word  suggests  '  loosing,'  '  weighing  anchor ' 
{Ociyss.  XV.  548). 

7.  the  good  fig-ht,  i  Tim.  vi.  12:  sc.  'of  faith.'  For  the  'course' 
cf.  Acts  XX.  24  ;  I  Cor.  ix.  24  ;  Gal.  ii.  2  ;  Phil.  iii.  12. 

I  have  kept  the  faith.  See  iii.  10,  viz.  the  faith  by  which 
he  was  first  saved,  and  the  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  by  which  he  had 
lived.  Dr.  Bernard's  rendering,  'the  Christian  creed,  regarded  as 
a  sacred  deposit  of  doctrine,'  becomes  more  probable,  if  the  letter 
is  un-Pauline,  a  work  of  the  second  century.  In  proportion  as  we 
can  retain  the  Pauline  sense  of  faith,  we  are  able  to  maintain  the 
Pauline  authorship  of  the  Epistle. 

8.  the  crown  of  righteousness.     If  we  may  interpret  by  '  the 

^  'fulfil'  :  a  word  not  used  in  this  sense  by  Paul  (Rom.  iv.  21,  xiv. 
5;  Col.  iv.  12). 

^  '  departure ' :  a  word  not  in  the  Greek  Bible,  though  the  corre- 
sponding verb  is  in  Phil.  i.  23,  but  common  in  the  later  Apocrypha. 


i68  II  TIMOTHY   4.  9,  10 

righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall 
give  to  me  at  that  day :  and  not  only  to  me,  but  also  to 
all  them  that  have  loved  his  appearing. 
10      Do  thy  diligence  to  come  shortly  unto  me  :  for  Demas 

crown  of  life,'  Jas.  i.  12  ;  Rev.  ii.  10,  and  *  the  crown  of  glory,' 
I  Pet.  V.  4,  the  genitive  is  one  of  substance  :  '■  a  crown  whicli 
consists  in  righteousness.'  But  that  ignores  Paul's  peculiar  doctrine 
of  a  *  righteousness  of  God '  imparted  by  faith,  which  makes 
righteousness  a  present  possession  (e.g.  Phil.  i.  ir).  The  term 
immediately  following  applied  to  Christ,  'the  righteous  judge,'  is 
also  in  favour  of  interpreting  the  crown  of  righteousness,  as  the 
crown  with  which  righteousness  is  crowned.  If  we  were  to  press 
the  idea  of  merit  (cf.  i  Tim.  vi.  i8,  19)  we  should  leave  Paul's 
ideas  and  condemn  our  Epistle  as  later ;  but  if  we  hold  fast  to 
Paul's  doctrine  of  righteousness,  and  the  thought  of  a  judge  '  who 
is  righteous  and  yet  justifies '  the  believer,  we  can  find  here 
a  consistent  conception.  Paul's  righteousness  was  of  God ,  through 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  and  because  he  had  received  that  righteous- 
ness from  the  righteous  judge,  the  righteous  judge  will  himself 
give  to  him,  and  to  all  who  love  his  appearing,  the  crown 
(Rom.  ii.  6.  f.  ;  i  Cor.  iii.  8,  14,  iv.  5  ;  2  Cor.  v.  10 ;  Gal.  vi.  7,  8.) 

in  that  day:  i.  12,  18. 

have  (perfect  from  the  standpoint  of  that  future)  loved  his 
appearing*.  As  Calvin  says,  '  Paul  excludes  from  the  number  of 
the  faithful  those  to  whom  the  advent  of  Christ  is  terrible.'  Do 
we  love  his  appearing  ?     It  is  a  searching  question. 

appearing*:  not  that  of  i.  10,  but  that  of  iv.  i. 

Note.  It  should  be  observed,  as  Riggenbach  sa3's,  that  Paul 
glances  at  his  own  finished  course  and  approaching  reward,  not 
so  much  in  an  outbreak  of  personal  joy  as  in  a  strong  desire  to 
confirm  and  encourage  Timothy  to  fight  his  fight  and  run  his 
course  with  a  view  to  the  crown. 

III.  Certain  closing  injunctions  and  the  last  words  of 
Paul.     iv.  9-22. 

9.  We  probably  have  in  do  thy  diligence  to  come  shortly  the 

motive  of  the  letter  (cf,  ii.  15,  iv.  21  ;  Titus  iii.  12).  The  course  is 
decided  by  the  request  to  call  at  Troas.  Timothy  would  have  to 
cross  Greece  by  the  Egnatian  Road  to  Dyrrachium,  and  then  sail 
to  Brundisium.  Yet,  as  he  only  urged  him  to  come  'before  winter' 
(verse  21),  that  might  leave  him  some  months  of  work,  during  which 
the  counsel  and  exhortation  of  this  letter  might  be  needed,  not  to 
mention  that  Paul  seems  to  have  a  desire  to  write  down  a  general 
commission  of  succession  as  a  last  will  and  testament  (Weiss). 
Perhaps  even  he  had  some  inkling  that  his  letter  would  soon 


II  TIMOTHY   4.  ri  169 

forsook  me,  having  loved  this  present  world,  and  went  to 
Thessalonica ;  Crescens  to  Galatia,  Titus  to  Dalmatia. 
Only  Luke  is  with  me.     Take  Mark,  and  bring  him  with  1 1 

rank  as  Scripture,  and  abide  with  Timothy  as  part  of  the  means 
of  his  outfit  (iii.  16,  17). 

10.  The  reason  for  wanting  Timothy  is  very  human  ;  it  is  the 
cry  of  affection  from  a  deserted  and  lonely  man. 

Demas,  a  fellow  worker  in  the  former  imprisonment  (Philem. 
24  ;  Col.  iv.  14),  perhaps  a  Thessalonian  (Lightfoot  points  out 
that  the  name,  in  the  fuller  form  Demetrius,  occurs  twice  in  the 
list  of  politarchs  of  Thessalonica),  left  Paul  for  Thessalonica 
because  he  loved  this  present  world  (for  the  phrase  see  i  Tim. 
vi.  17).  This  does  not  justify  the  tradition  that  Demas  was 
an  apostate  from  the  faith.  Unfortunately  there  are  too  many 
Christians  who  love  the  present  world  and  shirk  positions  of 
danger  or  discomfort  to  make  this  severe  judgement  of  tradition 
(Epiphanius,  Hercs,  51)  necessary. 

Crescens  to  Galatia  (Gaul).  This  might,  whichever  reading 
is  adopted,  be  either  Gaul,  or  that  Gaul  in  Asia  which  in  the  N.  T. 
is  called  Galatia.  Latin  writers  of  the  period  called  both  Gaul, 
Greek  writers  both  Galatia.  Tradition  determined  in  favour  of 
Gaul  (Eus.  H.  E.  iii.  4).  And  Crescens,  of  whom  nothing  is  known, 
was  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Church  of  Vienne.  On  the  other 
hand  in  a  writing  of  Paul's  we  more  naturally  think  of  Galatia. 

Titus  to  Dalmatin.  Dalmatia  was  in  the  province  oflllyria, 
Rom.  XV.  19.  Prof.  Ramsay  {Galatiatis,  p.  276)  points  out  that 
the  Roman  province  of  Illyricum  during  Paul's  lifetime  gradually 
changed  its  name  until  it  was  generally  called  Dalmatia. 
Originally  the  province  was  divided  into  two  parts — Liburnia  and 
Dalmatia.  From  70A.D.  the  name  Dalmatia  prevailed.  This  change, 
therefore,  from  Rom.  xv.  19  would  not  prove  that  2  Timothy  is  not 
Pauline,  but  only  that  Paul  most  sensitively  reflected  the  realities 
of  his  time.  "We  may  suppose  that  Titus  (according  to  Titus  iii.  12) 
joined  Paul  at  Nicopolis,  and  went  on  mission  work  to  Dalmatia, 
possibly  first  accompanying  him  to  Rome. 

11.  Only  Iiuke.  This  is  not  depreciatory  as  it  sounds:  in 
Col.  iv.  14  he  is  *  the  beloved  physician  '  ;  but  Paul  was  accustomed 
to  a  group  of  followers  (cf.  Philem.  24),  and  besides,  Timothy  was 
so  dear  that,  with  him  absent,  the  old  man  felt  lonely. 

Paul  wanted  also  to  get  Mark  back  to  him.  The  former  distrust 
(Acts  XV.  38;  had  gone,  and  in  the  first  imprisonment  Mark  had 
been  a  companion  (Col.  iv.  10).  He  is  now  regarded  as  useful  for 
ministering:  lit.  '  diaconate,' which  might  mean  either  personal 
or  missionary  service.  *  Useful '  is  the  word  rendered  at  ii.  21 
as  '  meet  for  use.' 


I70  II  TIMOTHY  4.   13-15 

12  thee  :  for  he  is  useful  to  mc  for  ministering.    But  Tychicus 

13  I  sent  to  Ephesus.     The  cloke  ^  that  I  left  at  Troas  with 
Carpus,  bring  when  thou  comest,  and  the  books,  especially 

14  the  parchments  ^     Alexander  the  coppersmith  did  me 
much  evil :  the  Lord  will  render  to  him  according  to  his 

15  works :    of  whom   be   thou  ware  also;    for  he  greatly 

12.  Tychious,  of  the  province  of  Asia  1  Acts  xx.  4),  was  with 
Paul  on  his  third  missionary  journey  and  preceded  him  to  Troas. 
In  Col.  iv.  7,  8,  he  is,  as  the  bearer  of  the  letter,  described  in 
affectionate  terms  ;  in  Eph.  vi.  21  he  is  mentioned  in  the  same 
connexion.  In  the  letter  to  Titus  Paul  thought  of  sending 
Tychicus  to  take  the  place  of  Titus  in  Crete  fiii.  12).  It  is  possible 
that  I  sent  is  the  epistolary  aorist,  and  is  equivalent  to  *  I  am 
sending ' ;  in  this  case  Tychicus  may  have  been  sent  to  take 
Timothy's  place  at  Ephesus  while  the  latter  came  to  Rome. 

13.  the  cloke.  The  Peshito  took  this  to  be  a  case  for  books 
(the  word  had  that  meaning).  But  it  is  more  likely  to  have  been 
a  long-sleeved  travelling-cloak  useful  in  winter.  The  word  in  a 
diminutive  was  used  in  Chrysostom's  time  for  a  chasuble.  The 
importance  of  this  is  evident,  for  it  is  an  authority  in  the  N.  T., 
and  the  only  authority,  for  Ritualistic  vestments.  Carpus  is 
unknown.  Needless  to  say  the  visit  to  Troas  could  not  have  been 
that  in  Acts  xx.  6,  six  years  before.  In  the  interval  between  the 
imprisonments  it  is  evident  that  Paul  had  been  there  again. 

the  books,  and  especially  the  parchments :  nicmbrance, 
prepared  skins  of  vellum.  These  would  be  more  precious  than 
ordinary  books,  which  would  simply  be  papyrus.  The  contents 
of  these  books  and  parchments,  as  there  are  no  facts  to  interfere 
with  conjecture,  have  greatly  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  commen- 
tators ;  e.  g.  Thiersch  supposes  that  they  were  notes  on  the  life  of 
Jesus;  Wieseler,  documents  connected  with  the  legal  process; 
Baumgarten,  Greek  literature  ;  Dr.  Bernard,  the  O.  T.  and  the 
diploma  of  Paul's  Roman  citizenship.  A  safe  conclusion  may  be 
that  Paul  was  not  a  man  of  one  book  {uniiis  libri). 

14.  Alexander  the  coppersmith  :  perhaps  the  same  Alexander 
as  in  I  Tim.  i.  20.  Riggenbach  takes  him  to  be  the  Alexander  of 
Acts  xix.  33. 

the  evil  was  perhaps  in  revenge  for  Paul's  stern  treatment 
recorded  in  i  Tim.  i.  20,  and  probably  took  the  form  of  advancing 
the  prosecution  in  Rome.  He  was  evidently  at  Ephesus,  or  Troas, 
or  some  place  en  route  ;  hence  the  warning  to  Timothy  to  beware 
of  him.     A  tradition  identified  him  with  '  the  thorn  in  the  flesh.' 

*  'cloke,'  'parchments' :  both  words  found  only  here. 


II  TIMOTHY   4.   16-18  171 

withstood  our  words.     At  my  first  defence  no  one  took  i^ 
my  part,  but  all  forsook  me  :  may  it  not  be  laid  to  their 
account.     But  the  Lord  stood  by  me,  and  strengthened  J  7 
me ;   that  through  me  the  message  might  be  fully  pro- 
claimed, and  that  all  the  Gentiles  might  hear  :  and  I  was 
delivered  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion.      The  Lord  will  18 


the  Lord  will  render.  Fortunately  the  MSS.  authority  is  in 
favour  of  this  calm  forecast  in  place  of  the  imprecation  which 
another  mood  expressed  in  the  Received  Text  (Ps.  Ixii.  12).  Paul 
also  quotes  these  words,  Rom.  ii.  6. 

15.  our  words:  probably  the  words  Paul  used  in  his  defence 
in  his  first  appearance  at  the  trial;  'our'  may  include  Luke  and 
Tychicus. 

16.  At  my  first  defence:  what  was  called  in  Roman  Law 
prima  actio,  not,  as  Eusebius  thought,  the  earlier  trial,  which  was 
four  years  before,  but  the  first  step  of  the  last  trial.  That  none 
stood  by  him,  not  even  Luke,  is  explained  by  von  Soden  in  the 
Hajid-Commeniar  thus  :  *  As  the  process  turned  upon  work  done  in 
his  missionary  journeys,  the  Roman  Christians  would  not  be  able 
to  help  him,  and  Luke  was  not  in  a  position  to  help  either.  All 
who  could  have  helped  had,  for  one  reason  or  another,  gone  at 
the  critical  moment.'  Riggenbach  suggests  no  one  took  my  part 
means  as  patronus.  No  Asiatic  or  influential  Roman  Christian 
stood  up  to  protect  and  plead  for  the  prisoner.  This  would  imply 
that  Luke  had  neither  the  influence  nor  the  other  qualifications  to 
serve  the  part,  and  would  leave  no  reflection  upon  his  readiness 
to  help  his  friend. 

1*7.  the  Iiord  stood  by  me  :  viz.  Christ.  Cf.  i  Tim.  i.  12. 
the  messag-e  .  .  .  fully  proclaimed :  or,  '  the  preaching  ful- 
filled,' either  because  in  his  defence  all  present  in  the  Basilica  would 
hear  the  gospel,  or  because  the  account  of  his  trial  would  be  noised 
throughout  the  world  (Mark  xiv.  9)  ;  what  happened  in  Rome  was 
known  in  the  world. 

I  was  delivered :  i.  e.  a  non  liquet  was  the  verdict  in  the  first 
action,  and  therefore  the  decision  was  postponed.  The  lion  is 
perhaps  an  allusion  to  Dan.  vi.  20  and  Ps.  xxii.  21,  without  any 
more  definite  reference.  But  considering  the  popular  cr^'  Chris- 
tianos  ad  ieoiies,  it  is  difficult  not  to  see  a  hint  at  the  awful  doom 
of  the  condemned  to  be  thrown  to  the  lions  in  the  amphitheatre. 
To  suppose  that  the  lion  is  Nero,  or  Satan,  *  who  goeth  about  as 
a  roaring  lion '  (i  Pet.  v.  8),  is  far  less  probable. 

18.  The  Lord  will  deliver.  The  verse  is  full  of  reminiscences 
of  the  Lord's  prayer. 


172  II  TIMOTHY  4.   19-21 

deliver  me  from  every  evil  work,  and  will  save  me  unto 
his  heavenly  kingdom  ^ :  to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 

1 9  Salute  Prisca  and  Aquila,  and  the  house  of  Onesiphorus. 

20  Erastus   abode   at  Corinth :    but   Trophimus   I    left   at 

21  Miletus  sick.  Do  thy  diligence  to  come  before  winter. 
Eubulus  saluteth  thee,  and  Pudens,  and  Linus,  and 
Claudia,  and  all  the  brethren. 


from  (not  out  of)  every  evil  work  :  i.  c.  remove  me  from  the 
machinations  of  evil,  no  doubt  by  death  ;  for  w^hen  the  sword  fell 
on  his  neck  he  would  be  for  ever  beyond  the  reach  of  all  his  fierce 
assailants  and  faint-hearted  friends. 

will  save  me  (and  bring  me)  uiito  Ixis  heavenly  kingdom. 

19-22.     Greetings. 

19.  Frisca  and  Aquila  (Acts  xviii.  2)  :  Jews,  tentmakers,  who 
were  expelled  from  Rome  by  an  edict  of  Claudius,  and  joined  Paul 
at  Corinth  ;  went  with  him  to  Ephesus  (Acts  xviii.  19)  and  stayed 
there.  They  send  greetings  to  the  Corinthians,  with  the  church 
in  their  house  (i  Cor.  xvi.  19)  ;  at  Rome  when  Romans  was  written 
(xvi.  3),  now  back  at  Ephesus.  Prisca  is  usually  mentioned  first ; 
perhaps  she  was  a  Roman  lady  of  some  consequence.  (Ramsay, 
Paul  the  Traveller^  p.  268. ) 

house  of  Onesiphorus  (cf.  i.  16,  17).  Certain  cursives  give 
Lectra  as  the  name  of  Onesiphorus'  wife,  and  Simaeas  and  Zeno 
as  his  sons. 

20.  Erastus  (Rom.  xvi.  23)  was  treasurer  of  Corinth  ;  it  is 
strange  if  the  Erastus  who,  we  read  here,  abode  at  Corinth  can 
be  the  same  man  ;  but  he  may  be  identified  with  the  person  of 
the  same  name  in  Acts  xix.  22, 

Trophimus  (Acts  xx.  4,  xxi.  29):  an  Ephesian  who  was  seen 
with  Paul  at  Jerusalem,  a  fact  which  led  to  the  riot  and  Paul's 
apprehension. 

Of  course  the  facts  mentioned  about  Erastus  and  Trophimus 
must  have  happened  between  the  two  imprisonments.  Paul  would 
mention  their  whereabouts  to  shew  that  they  had  not  deserted 
him  in  his  hour  of  need. 

21.  winter:  when  navigation  was  suspended, 
saluteth.     See  Rom.  xvi.  21,  23,  for  the  construction. 

The  four  Roman  Christians  mentioned  are  not  otherwise  known 
to   Scripture,    and   it   seems   odd   that   they   should   send    their 

^  *his  heavenly  kingdom  '  5  a  phrase  not  elsewhere  in  the  N.  T. 


II  TIMOTHY  4.  22  173 

The  Lord  be  with  thy  spirit.     Grace  be  with  you. 

greetings  when  Paul  had  just  complained  of  being  alone  ;  but 
perhaps  they  were  comparative  strangers  to  him,  and  were  not 
available  for  his  defence.  Linus,  according  to  Irenaeus  {Har.  iii. 
33,  Eusebius,  Ecd.  Hist.  iii.  2),  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome.  The 
Apostolic  Constitutions  (vii.  2,  6)  improved  on  this  and  made  him 
son  of  Claudia.  A  Pudens  and  Claudia  appear  in  Martial's  epigram, 
iv.  13,  and  another  pair  of  the  same  name  in  an  inscription  quoted 
by  Lightfoot.  But  the  connexion  with  the  persons  in  the  text  is 
quite  fanciful  (cf.  the  still  wilder  conjecture  that  the  Pudens 
discovered  in  an  inscription  at  Chichester  is  the  Pudens  of  this 
Epistle). 

22.  First,  a  personal  greeting  to  Timothy  ;  compare  it  with 
Gal.  vi.  18  and  Philemon  25.  So  Barnabas,  '  The  Lord  of  glory  and 
of  all  grace  be  with  your  spirit.'  Then  a  greeting  to  the  church 
at  large,  'the  sign  in  every  epistle.' 

Grace  .  .  .  witli  you  (plur.).     See  on  i  Tim.  vi.  21. 

Note.  No  other  letter  presents  Paul  in  his  simple  manhood  so 
strikingly  as  this  last  which  we  possess  of  his  ;  the  loneliness  and 
longing  for  his  younger  friend,  the  anxiety  for  the  truth  and  its 
defence,  the  gratitude  to  Christ  who  stood  by  him  when  all  else 
forsook  him,  the  little  personal  commissions,  and  lifelike  touches 
of  the  closing  verses,  bring  Paul  the  man  before  us,  and  endear 
him  to  us  for  ever. 


THE  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  TO 
TITUS 

1  Paul,  a  servant  of  God,  and  an  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ,  according  to  the  faith  of  God's  elect,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  which  is  according  to  godliness, 

2  in   hope   of  eternal  life,  which  God,  who  cannot   lie, 

i.  1-4.     The  Salutation. 

1.  a  servant  of  God.  One  requisitioned  for  the  service  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Paul's  usual  phrase  is  'a  bond-servant  of 
Christ '  or  '  of  the  Lord  '  (2  Tim.  ii.  24).  But  the  phrase  occurs  in 
James  i.  i  and  in  Rev.  xv.  3  of  Moses.  The  addition  of  and  an 
apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  gives  a  specific  character  to  this  intro- 
duction. One  can  hardly  imagine  a  forger  inventing  this  kind  of 
slight  innovation  ;  but  the  real  Paul  with  his  fertility  of  mind 
would  quite  naturally  designate  himself  suitably  to  the  Epistle  in 
hand. 

according^  to  (see  2  Tim.  i.  i).  A  nearer  rendering  of  the 
preposition  would  be  '  for.'  His  service  of  God  and  apostleship  of 
Christ  is  to  produce  faith  in  God's  elect  and  knowledge  of  the 
truth  according  to  godliness.  'The  objective  truth  and  the 
subjective  godliness  correspond,  and  this  correspondence  is 
the  criterion  of  the  genuineness  of  both '  (Riggenbach).  (Cf. 
I  Tim.  ii.  4  ;  for  the  elect,  2  Tim.  ii.  lo.) 

2.  in  hope  of.  The  apostleship  rests  on  this  hope  of  eternal 
life  as  on  a  sure  ground  ;  all  its  labours  and  suflfering  are  supported 
by  it  (2  Tim.  i.  i). 

In  what  sense  did  God,  who  cannot  lie,  promise  the  life  eternal 
before  times  eternal?  See  a  Tim.  i.  9.  A  reference  to  Gen.  iii. 
15  and  Luke  i.  70  is  inadequate  to  the  expression.  Paul  goes  back 
into  the  purpose  of  God,  and  sees  in  that  *  vast  backward  and 
abysm  of  time,'  in  the  eternity  which  preceded  time,  this  promise 
of  God      But  while  that  might  justify  the  statement  God  purposed 


TITUS  1.  ?,4  175 

promised  before  times  eternal ;  but  in  his  own  seasons  3 
manifested  his  word  in  the  message,  wherewith   I  was 
intrusted  according  to  the  commandment  of  God  our 
Saviour ;  to  Titus,  my  true  child  after  a  common  faith :  4 
Grace  and  peace  from  God  the  Father  and  Christ  Jesus 
our  Saviour  ^ 

to  give  eternal  life,  how  does  it  justify  promised  ?  One  can  only 
give  definite  meaning  to  the  word  by  supposing  Paul  to  refer  to 
the  truth  which  John  expresses  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos. 
Before  the  beginning  of  years,  when  God  said  to  His  Son,  'Thou 
art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,'  He  gave  a  promise  to 
man  who  would  be  made  in  His  image,  a  promise  of  eternal  life. 
This  underlying  thought  leads  up  to  the  next  words. 

3.  in  his  own  seasons  manifested  Ms  word.  Here  the 
writer  trembles  on  the  verge  of  the  Logos  doctrine  of  John.  It 
would  not  be  appropriate  to  translate  it  '  the  incarnate  Logos ' ; 
but  the  thought  almost  breaks  through  the  language. 

Ms  own  seasons  (i  Tim.  ii.  6,  vi,  15).  The  idea  of  the 
Incarnation  and  Advent  occurring  at  a  suitable  point  in  time  is 
rendered  peculiarly  fruitful  by  our  modern  conception  of  evolution. 
Why  did  not  Christ  appear  before  ?  is  a  question  sometimes  asked. 
It  should  be  met  by  another  question,  Why  did  not  man  appear 
before  ? 

in  a  (not  'the')  message:  not  the  act,  but  the  substance,  of 
the  message  is  implied  in  the  word.  The  '  I '  is  emphatic,  as  it  is 
in  verse  5,  '  I  gave  thee  charge.'  It  is  the  sublime  self-consciousness 
of  an  apostle  who  knows  himself  commissioned  and  commissioning 
(i  Tim.  i.  II,  ii.  7  ;  2  Tim.  i.  11  ;  Gal.  ii.  7). 

our  Saviour  God :  i  Tim.  i.  i. 

4.  to  Titus,  true  child  (no  'my'  in  original)  after  a  common 
faith  (i  Tim.  i.  2).  The  corresponding  phrase  to  Timothy,  'in 
faith,'  only  differs  in  suggesting  a  closer  relation  between  Paul 
and  Timothy  than  between  Paul  and  Titus.  'True  child  in  faith ' 
suggests  that  Timothy  was  his  child  in  faith.  *  True  child  after 
a  common  faith '  would  leave  it  indeterminate  whether  Paul  did 
not  class  himself  with  Titus  as  heirs  together  of  the  same  promise, 
children  by  faith  of  the  one  Father. 

Altogetiier  there  is  an  originality  and  personal  verve  in  this 
salutation  which  makes  it  very  hard  to  think  of  it  as  a  literary 
forgery.     A  forger  may  imitate  his  original  with  servility,  or  he 

'  *  Christ  Jesus  our  Saviour.'  Paul,  outside  the  Pastorals,  does  not 
use  this  exact  designation,  the  nearest  being  Phil.  iii.  20.  (See  2  Tim. 
i.  10;  Titus  ii.  13,  iii.  6;  2  Pet.  i.  i,  11,  ii.  20,  iii.  18.) 


176  TITUS   1.  5-7 

5  For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldest 
set  in  order  ^  the  things  that  were  wanting,  and  appoint 

6  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  gave  thee  charge ;  if  any  man  is 
blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  having  children  that 

J-  believe,  who  are  not  accused  of  riot  or  unruly.  For  the 
bishop  must  be  blameless,  as  God's  steward;  not  self- 
willed  ^  not  soon  angry  ^  no  brawler,  no  striker,  not  greedy 

may  strike  into  gross  divergences  ;  but  it  is  almost  beyond  the 
reach  of  art  to  be  so  different  that  copying  is  out  of  the  question, 
and  yet  so  Hke  that  the  personal  characteristics  of  the  original  are 
unmistakable. 

I,    i.  5-9.     The  appointment  and  the  qualifications  of  elders  in  Crete. 

5.  I  left  thee  in  Crete.  This  shews  that  Paul  had  been  in 
Crete  himself  during  that  busy  and  eventful  time  between  the 
two  Roman  imprisonments.  For  the  origin  of  Cretan  Christianity 
see  Acts  ii.  11. 

elders.     Cf.  Acts  xiv.  23;  i  Tim.  v.  17,  19. 
as  I  grave  thee  charg-e  invests  Titus  with  the  authority  that 
Paul  himself  had. 

6.  The  qualifications  are  the  same  as  those  in  i  Tim.  iii.  1-7 
for  bishops  (overseers),  which  shews  that  'presbyter'  and  'over- 
seer '  are  two  terms  for  one  office. 

blameless:  i  Tim.  iii.  ro. 

having'  children  that  believe  :  a  new  requirement. 
who  are  not  accused  of  riot  or  unruly;     The  word  *  not ' 
is  found  in  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  Luke  xv.  13. 

7.  Per  the  bishop.  This  again  shews  that  'presbyter'  is 
identical  with  'bishop'  (overseer).  The  only  other  places  where 
episcopus  occurs  are  i  Tim.  iii.  2  ;  Phil,  i.  i ;  Acts  xx.  28. 

as  God's  steward :  viz.  the  manager  of  God's  house  (i  Tim. 
iii.  15). 

not  self-willed.  In  Aristotle  the  '  gravity '  of  i  Tim.  iii.  4 
is  a  mean  between  self-will  on  the  one  side  and  complacency 
on  the  other.  The  content  of  '  not  self-willed '  is  deployed  in  the 
following  words. 

not  soon  ang-ry.  In  Aristotle  this  'anger'  is  an  extreme, 
and  'inability  to  be  angry'  is  the  opposite.  The  mean  in  which 
he  saw  virtue  is  '  gentleness.' 

greedy  of  filthy  lucre.  In  i  Tim.  iii.  8  this  is  used  of 
deacons. 

*  'set  in  order'  :   a  word  not  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible. 

*  'not  self-willed'  :   only  here  in  Paul  (cf.  2  Pet.  ii.  10). 
^  *  not  soon  angry  ' :  a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 


TITUS   1.  8-II  177 

of  filthy   lucre ;    but   given   to   hospitality,    a   lover   of  8 
good  \  soberminded,  just,  holy,  temperate^;  holding  to  9 
the  faithful  word  which  is  according  to  the  teaching,  that 
he  may  be  able  both  to  exhort  in  the  sound  doctrine, 
and  to  convict  the  gainsayers. 

For  there  are  many  unruly  men,  vain  talkers^  and  10 
deceivers^,   specially   they   of  the   circumcision,    whose  u 

8.  just,  holy :  additions  to  the  other  hst.  The  former  applies 
to  duties  to  men,  the  latter  to  duties  to  God. 

temperate  :   rather,  '  continent.' 

9.  holding  to  the  faithful  word.  *  The  whole  clause,'  writes 
Dr.  Bernard,  *  indicates  the  function  of  the  episcopits  as  the 
guardian  of  the  deposit  of  faith'  (i  Tim.  vi.  20).  Commentators 
like  Dr.  Bernard  are  determined  to  find  here  authority  for  a 
creed,  and  for  a  bishop  as  the  guardian  of  the  apostolic  doctrine. 
As  to  the  latter,  we  have  seen  that  there  can  be  no  thought  here 
of  a  bishop  in  the  Ignatian  sense:  the  'bishop'  is  simply  the 
elder,  one  of  a  group  appointed  in  each  church.  As  to  the 
former,  it  is  well  to  note  what  Schmidt  and  Holzendorff  say  : 
'Faithful  .  .  .  the  word  which  corresponds  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  church.  Hence  we  have  here  already  an  ecclesiastical  doc- 
trinal canon,  a  rule  of  faith.  This  supposes  the  circumstances 
of  the  second  century.'  If  episcopus  here  meant  a  'bishop'  as 
distinct  from  an  '  elder,'  or  if  '  the  faithful  word '  meant  a  doctrinal 
symbol,  we  should  have  to  give  up  all  idea  of  Pauline  authorship. 
But  as  '  bishop'  is  identical  with  '  presbyter,'  so  '  the  faithful  word 
according  to  the  doctrine  '  simply  means  the  faithful  proclamation 
of  the  truth  which  Paul  had  taught. 

the  healthful  teaching*  (marg.).    See  on  i  Tim.  i.  10. 
gainsayers  :  2  Tim.  ii.  25. 

i.  10-16.      The  hetero-teachers  in  Crete. 

10.  unruly:   i  Tim.  i.  9. 

they  of  the  circumcision.  The  Judaizers  were  the  worst 
of  the  false  teachers  in  Crete.  As  we  have  seen,  the  whole 
character  of  the  heresy  in  the  Pastorals  points  to  a  type  of  Jewish 
teaching,  Hke  that  of  the  Essenes,  which  had  crept  into  the  church. 

^  'lover  of  good' :  only  here.  The  negative  of  this  is  at  2  Tim. 
Hi.  3- 

^  '  temperate  '  :  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

^  *  vain  talkers '  and  '  deceivers '  :  two  words  only  here  in  the 
Greek  Bible  (Gal.  vi.  3,  the  verb  of  the  latter). 

N 


178  TITUS   1.  12 

mouths  must  be  stopped ' ;  men  who  overthrow  whole 

houses,  teaching  things  which  they  ought  not,  for  filthy 

12  lucre's  sake.     One  of  themselves,  a  prophet  of  their  own, 

said,  Cretans  are  alway  liars,  evil  beasts,  idle  gluttons. 

And    Titus,   as    an    uncircumcised    Greek,   would    be    especially 
obnoxious  to  these  men. 

11.  overthrow  whole  houses:  i.e.  'subvert  households.'  Cf. 
2  Tim.  iii.  6.  This  implies  that  the  heretics  did  not  so  much  teach 
in  the  church,  in  which  case  their  gains  would  not  be  properly 
called  base,  as  surreptitiously  get  into  families,  and  trade  upon 
the  ignorance,  or  curiosity,  or  even  vice  of  the  people,  especially 
the  women,  extracting  money  from  them  in  a  way  which  justifies 
the  strong  expression  '  for  the  sake  of  shameful  gain.'  Tyndale's 
*  filth}'^  lucre '  is  misleading.  It  is  not  gain  as  such  that  is  shameful, 
but  gain  obtained  in  such  a  way  (the  two  words  are  combined 
into  one  adjective  in  i  Tim.  iii.  8).  It  was  characteristic  of  the 
heretics  with  whom  Timoth}'  had  to  do,  that  they  thought  godli- 
ness was  a  means  of  gain  (i  Tim.  vi.  5).  But  the  bad  reputation 
of  the  Cretans  for  avarice,  to  which  Livy,  Plutarch,  and  Polybius 
refer,  might  make  the  words  here  specially  forcible. 

12.  a  prophet  of  their  own:  Epimenides,  600  B.C.,  called  by 
Plato  '  a  divine  man '  {Laws,  642  D).  Diogenes  Laertius  says 
that  the  Cretans  offered  sacrifice  to  him  as  to  a  god.  Only  here 
and  in  2  Pet.  ii.  16  is  the  title  of  *  prophet '  ascribed  to  heathen. 
It  is  a  touch  of  that  consciousness  always  present  in  Paul  that 
God  has  nowhere  left  Himself  without  a  witness.  The  reference, 
slight  as  it  is,  justifies  us  in  ranking  some  of  our  poets  and  teachers 
among  the  prophets,  without  leaving  the  N.T.  standpoint. 

Cretans  are  alway  liars,  &c.  It  is  a  hexameter  verse 
from  Epimenides  on  Oracles,  quoted  by  Callimachus  in  his  Hymn 
to  Zeus,  and  well  known  in  antiquity.  The  Cretans  were  ranked 
with  Cappadocians  and  Cilicians,  all  beginning  with  K  in  Greek, 
as  the  three  worst  peoples  in  the  Greek  world.  To  Cretize  was 
a  word  for  '  to  lie  '  (Suidas). 

evil  beasts,  idle  gluttons.  Observe,  the  three  characteristics 
of  the  Cretans  reappears  in  these  false  teachers  :  'liars,'  vain  talkers 
and  deceivers  of  verses  10,  11;  'evil  beasts,' unruly  and  overturning 
houses ;  *  idle  gluttons,'  the  base  gain,  and  perhaps  the  riot  and  love 
of  wine,  which  are  implicitly  condemned  in  the  characteristics  of 
a  bishop.  This  peculiar  aptness  in  quotation  indicates  considerable 
culture  in  Paul  (cf.  Acts  xvii.  28  and  i  Cor.  xv.  33). 

^  'mouths  must  be  stopped':  a  word  not  used  by  Paul,  nor  in 
the  N.T.,  unless  (doubtfully)  at  Luke  xi.  53. 


TITUS  1.  13-16  179 

This  testimony  is  true.     For  which  cause  reprove  them  13 
sharply,  that  they  may  be  sound  in  the  faith,  not  giving  14 
heed  to  Jewish  fables,  and  commandments  of  men  who 
turn  away  from  the  truth.     To  the  pure  all  things  are  15 
pure :    but   to   them   that   are   defiled  and   unbelieving 
nothing  is  pure  ;  but  both  their  mind  and  their  conscience 
are  defiled.     They  profess  that  they  know  God;  but  by  16 
their   works   they  deny   him,    being  abominable  \    and 

13.  Paul's  assertion,  this  testimony  is  true,  is  very  severe, 
especially  as  the  letter  was  to  be  read  afterwards  in  the  Cretan 
Church.  Holtzmann  and  Clemen  consider  it  unpastoral  tactless- 
ness to  say  this  ;  Riggenbach  thinks  it  was  only  said  to  Titus. 
But  such  outspokenness  (Phil.  iii.  2)  is  the  privilege  of  an  apostle 
who  has  '  felt  the  spirit  of  the  Highest.' 

may  be  sound  in  the  faith :  the  verb  to  which  corresponds 
the  adjective  we  have  so  often  had  (i  Tim.  i.  10).  Compared 
with  2  Tim.  ii.  25,  iv.  2,  this  treatment  of  the  heretical  teachers 
shews  a  higher  degree  of  severity. 

14.  the  Jewish  fables,  and  commandments  of  men:  as  in 
I  Tim.  i.  4 ;  but  the  special  reference,  as  the  next  verse  shews, 
is  to  such  ascetic  restrictions  as  are  mentioned  in  i  Tim.  iv.  3. 
Such  '  commandments  of  men '  (the  word  is  always  elsewhere  in 
Scripture  used  only  of  Divine  commandments)  have  been  con- 
demned not  only  by  Isaiah  fxxix.  13),  but  by  our  Lord  (Matt. 
XV.  9).  Prohibitions  of  certain  foods  or  of  marriage  may  seem 
innocent,  or  to  err  only  on  the  side  of  piety,  but  if  they  are  human 
and  not  Divine,  they  divert  our  thoughts  from  the  requirements 
of  God,  and  may  be  as  subtilely  hurtful  as  the  gross  temptations  of 
the  world  in  just  the  opposite  direction. 

15.  To  the  pure,  &c.  Rom.  xiv.  14,  20  ;  Luke  xi.  41.  When 
men,  though  fasting  and  continent,  are  yet  inwardly  defiled  and 
essentially  unbelieving,  i.  e.  when  understanding  and  conscience 
are  defiled,  the  mere  outward  or  physical  purity  is  of  no  moment 
in  the  eyes  of  God.  These  Judaizing  ascetics,  though  confessing 
that  they  knew  God,  and  though  practising  ostentatiously  religious 
austerities,  were  in  conduct  none  the  less  denying  Him,  by  giving 
the  impression  that  He  who  is  Wisdom  and  Love  delights  in  such 
things.  Outwardly  correct  and  even  saintly,  they  were  inwardly 
abominable,  and  disobedient,  and  reprobate. 

16.  confess :  not  profess.  As  Jews,  they  inherited  the  great 
tradition  of  Monotheism  ;  they  could  not  plead  ignorance  of  Him 

*  *  abominable ' :    only  here   in   the   N.T.   (though   the   cognate 

N   2 


i8o  TITUS  2.  I,  2 

disobedient,    and    unto    every    good    work    reprobate. 
2       But   speak   thou   the    things    which  befit  the   sound 
2  doctrine :    that  aged  men    be   temperate,  grave,   sober- 
as  an  excuse  for  their  perverse  presentation  of  Him,  as  the  nations 
that  know  Him  not  might  (i  Thess.  iv   5  . 

For  unto  every  g-oocl  worlc  cf.  a  Tim.  iii.  17  and  Titus  iii.  i. 
reprobate:  2  Tim.  iii.  8. 
The  hetero  teachers  of  this  Epistle  are  particularized  as  com- 
pared with  those  in  i  Timothy,  by  reference  to  the  Cretan  national 
character,  to  the  subversion  of  '  whole  homes,'  and  to  special 
ascetic  demands  described  as  'the  commandments  of  men'  (as  in 
Matt.  XV.  9  .  In  Romans  and  Corinthians  the  Judaizcrs  are 
called  'weak';  here  they  are  'defiled  and  unbelieving.'  The 
Judaizing  tendency  in  the  church  was  a  disease,  which  through 
Paul's  lifetime  grew  worse  and  worse  ;  ultimately,  in  the  form  of 
Catholicism,  it  captured  and  subdued  the  church  up  to  the  time 
of  the  Reformation.  In  the  modern  revival  of  Catholicism  these 
exhortations  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  acquire  a  new  value. 

II.  ii.  I — iii.  7.  This  tnain  passage  of  the  Epistle  is  an  injunction  to 
Timothy  to  apply  the  precepts  of  the  healthy  doctrine  to  several  classes 
and  conditions  of  men  ;  and  it  incidentally  implies  that  the  healthful 
influence  of  the  teaching  must  depend  to  some  extent  on  the 
discrimination  with  which  it  is  thus  applied,  just  as  a  physician 
is  effective  not  so  much  by  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  medicine 
as  by  recognizing  what  medicine  must  be  given  to  the  particular 
patient,  and  how  and  when. 

Chap.  ii.  is  complete  in  itself.  First  there  is  'speak'  (1-5  , 
then  'exhort'  (6-10),  and  lastly  'reprove,'  implied  in  11-14. 
Then  'speak,  exhort,  reprove'  in  verse  15  is  the  summing-up. 
The  truth  in  verses  11-14  also  furnishes  the  ground  of  the 
directions  given  in  verses  2-10.  'The  grace  of  God  hath  appeared'; 
that  is  the  general  healthful  truth  from  which  the  applications  to 
men  and  women,  to  the  aged  and  the  3'oung,  are  drawn. 

1.  But:  in  contrast  with  the  misleading  teaching,  Titus  is  to 
be  active  in  his  right  teaching, 

sound  doctrine.     See  on  i  Tim.  i.  9  ;  2  Tim.  i.  13. 

2.  aged  men.  The  word  used  (only  Philem.  9  ;  Luke  i.  18) 
is  not  the  same  as  in  i  Tim.  v.  i,  though  the  idea  is  the  same,  viz. 
not  elder  as  official,  but  only  in  point  of  age. 

temperate :  i  Tim.  iii.  2. 
grave :  i  Tim.  ii.  2,  iii.  4. 

words   are   in    Rom.   ii.   22;    Rev.  xxi.   Sj    Mark   xiii.   14;    Luke 
xvi.  15). 


TITUS   2.  3-5  i8i 

minded,  sound  in  faith,  in  love,  in  patience  :  that  aged  wo-  3 
men  ^  likewise  be  reverent  ^  in  demeanour  '•,  not  slanderers 
nor  enslaved  to  much  wine,  teachers  of  that  which  is 
good  * ;   that  they  may  train  ^  the  young  women  to  love  4 
their  husbands,  to  love  their  children,  /<?  /fe  soberminded,  5 

soberminded :   i  Tim.  ii.  9.  iii.  2,  i.  8. 

sound  in  faith.  Even  Dr.  Bernard  admits  that  faith  here  is 
subjective,  and  not  objective  in  the  sense  of  creed.  But  in  truth, 
the  subjective  sense  is  never  lost  in  Paul's  genuine  writings. 
Faith  is  not  a  body  of  truths  to  be  believed,  but  the  spiritual 
faculty  by  which  truth  is  assimilated.  And  old  men  are  to  be 
kept  sound  in  this  faculty,  as  in  love  and  patience.  (Cf.  Jas.  i.  3 
for  the  connexion  between  'faith'  and  'patience.')  The  three 
graces  here  named  together  (as  i  Thess.  i.  3  ;  i  Tim.  vi.  11'  are 
thus  distinguished  by  Ignatius  {Polyc.  6) :  '  faith  the  helmet,  love 
the  spear,  patience  the  armour.' 

3.  reverent  is  hardly  expressive  enough  ;  '  priest-like '  would 
be  more  adequate.  The  original  signifies  a  demeanour  such  as 
becomes  a  priest  engaged  in  the  mysteries  of  the  house  of  God. 
Note,  one  of  the  few  places  in  which  the  N.  T.  refers  to  the 
hiereiis  (priest;,  and  here  it  is  applied  to  'old  women.'  Cf.  i  Tim. 
ii.  10  for  the  religion  of  women. 

demeanour.  Ignatius  ( TraU.  3)  affords  a  useful  illustration. 
Speaking  of  the  Trallian  bishop,  he  says  that  his  'demeanour' 
was  itself  a  'great  lesson.' 

slanderers:   i  Tim.  iii.  6,  ir. 

enslaved  to  mucli  wine :  an  expression  stronger  than  '  given 
to  much  wine'  in  i  Tim.  iii.  8,  in  proportion  as  the  Cretans  were 
worse  than  the  Ephesians.  and  old  women  given  to  drink  are 
more  incurable,  more  in  the  bondage  of  vice  (Rom.  vi.  i8,  22), 
than  young. 

teachers  of  that  which  is  good:  or,  'beautiful,"  Does  this 
contradict  r  Cor,  xiv.  34  ?  Probably  not,  because  the  sphere  of  their 
teaching  is  defined  in  the  following  words  ;  it  is  not  public,  but 
domestic  teaching — not  the  instruction  of  men,  but  of  younger 
women. 

*  '  aged  women  '  :  a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

^  '  reverent ' :  only  here  in  the  N,  T, ;   but  cf .  4  Mace.  ix.  28,  xi.  19. 
^  'demeanour'  :   only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

*  '  teachers  of  that  which  is  good  '  :   a  word  found  only  here. 

^  *  train  '  :  the  verb  used  here  (akin  to  '  soberminded  '  in  verse  2) 
does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the  Greek  Bible,  neither  docs  the  word 
for  Move  their  husbands,'  The  word  for  Move  their  children'  is 
peculiar  to  this  passage  in  the  N,T. 


i82  TITUS  2.  5 

chaste,  workers  at  home,  kind,  being  in  subjection  to  their 
own  husbands,  that  the  word  of  God  be  not  blasphemed  : 


5.  workers  at  home:  if  this  reading  is  to  be  adopted,  found 
only  here  and  in  a  medical  writer  of  the  second  century,  Soranus. 
The  best  MSS.  support  this  unusual  word,  but  the  majority  of 
MSS.  have  a  word  which  means  *  keeper-at-home.'  The  change 
would  be  tempting,  because  this  word  was  a  usual  term  for 
describing  a  good  wife  (e.  g.  Philo,  de  Exsecr.  4).  '  Cleaving  to 
one  husband,  loving  the  keeping-at-home,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
rule,  of  the  one,'  is  Philo's  description  {de  Prof.  27).  But  the 
more  unusual  word  would  exactly  express  the  thought  of  Paul, 
that  woman's  'work'  was  not  in  the  church  assemblies,  but  in  the 
home.  And,  therefore,  intrinsic  probability  as  well  as  the  best 
MSS.  justify  the  Revisers  in  their  rendering. 

kind:  lit.  '  good '  (as  in  Matt.  xx.  15  ;  i  Pet.  ii,  18),  in  reference 
to  the  particular  service. 

baing-  in  subjection  to  their  own  husbands.  See  Eph.  v. 
22;  Col.  iii.  18  for  the  Christological  reason  of  this  subordination. 

that  the  word  of  God  be  not  blasphesned,  as  in  Isa.  Hi.  5  it 
was,  by  any  irregularity  of  those  who  bore  His  name  (so  Rom.  ii. 
24).  The  reference  in  the  last  words  need  not  be  confined  to 
the  clause  *  submitting  themselves  to  their  husbands ' ;  it  may 
quite  naturally  refer  to  the  whole  exhortation  to  good  wifehood. 
Nothing  would  more  discredit  the  new  truth  of  God  than  a 
suspicion  that  by  breathing  a  spurious  spirit  of  emancipation 
into  young  women,  it  was  making  them  less  dutiful  wives  and 
mothers. 

Perhaps  we  should  not  lay  stress  on  the  fact  that  while  Timothy 
was  told  to  treat  the  younger  women  as  sisters  (i  Tim.  v.  2), 
Titus  was  only  to  instruct  them  through  the  elder  women.  But 
if  the  difference  was  determined  by  a  difference  of  character  and 
susceptibility  in  Titus,  it  would  be  a  minute  evidence  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  Epistle.  There  are  some  j'oung  ministers  who 
can  easily  treat  young  women  as  sisters  in  all  purit}',  because 
their  passions  are  not  inflammable,  or  because  their  persons  are 
unattractive ;  there  are  other  j'^oung  ministers  whose  safety  lies 
in  an  austere  detachment  from  young  women  of  every  kind,  and 
it  is  shrewd  counsel  in  such  a  case  to  minister  to  the  3'ounger 
women  through  older  women  as  deputies.  We  have  not,  however, 
any  intimation  of  Titus's  idiosyncrasies  which  would  give  to  this 
argument  for  authenticity  any  weight. 

6-10.  Exhortations  to  3'oungmen,  the  class  from  whom  deacons 
would  be  drawn  (i  Pet.  v.  5);  and  slaves,  the  class  in  whose  con- 
dition the  gospel  had  made  the  most  revolutionary  change. 


TITUS   2.  6-9  183 

the  younger  men  likewise  exhort  to  be  soberminded  :  in  6,  7 
all  things  ^  shewing  thyself  an  ensample  of  good  works ; 
in  thy  doctrine  shewing  uncorruptness,  gravity,    sound  8 
speech,  that  cannot  be  condemned ;  that  he  that  is  of  the 
contrary  part  may  be  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to  say 
of  us.     Exhort  servants  to  be  in  subjection  to  their  own  9 

6.  For  young  men  example  in  the  teacher  is  more  powerful 
than  precept  ;  this  is  a  fine  psychological  touch.  The  exhortation 
to  the  minister  to  exhort  the  young  men  turns  at  once  to  an 
exhortation  to  be  what  he  wishes  them  to  be. 

7.  ensample.  Cf.  i  Tim.  iv.  12,  where  the  genitive  refers  to 
the  persons  to  whom  the  example  is  set,  and  not,  as  here,  to  the 
substance  in  which  the  example  consists. 

in  tliy  doctrine  should  be,  as  Wycliffe  rendered  it,  '  in  thy 
teaching.' 

nncorruptness,  i.  e.  freedom  from  erroneous  teaching  (cf. 
2  Tim.  iii.  8),  though  this  purity  of  teaching,  as  its  combination 
with  gravity  and  sotind  speech  shews,  is  regarded  rather  as 
a  quality  of  the  teacher  than  as  a  description  of  the  teaching. 
Indeed,  the  teacher's  character  and  life  must  be  orthodox,  or  his 
orthodoxy  of  teaching  will  not  tell  (so  Luther,  Huth,  von  Soden). 

8.  sotind  speech.  Cf.  2  Tim.  i.  13  and  i  Tim.  vi.  3,  where 
'  sound '  is  not  the  adjective  as  here,  but  the  participle. 

that  cannot  be  condemned.  This  is  a  searching  epithet. 
The  healthful  word  of  the  gospel  may  be  criticized  and  spoken 
against,  but  when  it  is  tried  it  is  not  found  wanting,  and  after 
trial  a  verdict  of  acquittal  is  passed. 

he  that  is  of  the  contrary  part  is  to  be  sought,  not  in  the 
heathen  world  (2  Thess.  iii.  14  ;  i  Cor.  iv.  14,  vi.  5,  xv.  34),  but 
among  the  hetero-teachers  of  i.  10-16. 

no  evil  thing" :  viz.  as  regards  the  life.  It  is  the  impeccable 
life  which  gives  to  the  teaching  of  the  healthful  doctrine  its  im- 
pregnability ;  whereas,  if  the  teacher  does  not  practise  what  he 
preaches,  men,  and  especially  the  young  men  in  question,  will 
use  the  faulty  life  to  discredit  even  the  faultless  doctrine. 

9.  servants,  i.e.  'slaves.'     See  i  Tim.  vi.  i,  and  notes  there. 

^  *  The  phrase  translated  '  in  all  things,'  the  usage  in  *  an  ensample 
of  good  works,'  the  words  for  '  uncorruptness,'  '  that  cannot  be  con- 
demned,' and  the  phrase  for  '  he  that  is  of  the  contrary  part,'  and 
even  the  combination  in  'sound  speech,'  form  a  group  of  six  ex- 
pressions that  are  only  found  here  in  the  N.T.  (In  the  eight  verses 
i-S  there  are  thus  thirteen  aira^  \iy6/.ieva.) 


1 84  TITUS  2.  10,  II 

masters,  and  to  be  well-pleasing  to  them  in  all  things  ; 
TO  not  gainsaying ;    not    purloining,    but  shewing  all  good 

fidelity ;  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our 
II  Saviour    in   all   things.      For  the   grace   of  God   hath 

well-pleasing':  elsewhere  Paul  uses  this  word  only  of  Christ 
or  in  reference  to  God.  But  altogether  the  language  here  gives 
to  slaves  a  Divine  dignity,  which  was  the  foretaste  of  emanci- 
pation, 

10.  purloining':  the  word  used  in  Acts  v.  3  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira.  Tyndale  rendered  it  *  neither  be  pickers  ' :  it  refers  to 
a  kind  of  theft  peculiarly  easy  for  domestics. 

good.     See  verse  5. 

that  they  may  adorn,  &c.  Matt.  v.  16 :  '■  that  others  may  see 
your  good  works.*  This  stately  thought,  that  slaves,  by  dutiful- 
ness  and  unselfishness,  have  power  to  decorate  the  teaching  about 
God  our  Saviour  (that  must  be  the  force  of  the  genitive  here)  is 
one  of  those  touches  by  which  the  gospel  brings  dignity  to  every 
condition  of  human  life.  Epictetus  shewed  that  the  position  of 
a  slave  was  no  hindrance  to  an  exalted  life.  But  Epictetus  was 
a  philosopher,  and  by  power  of  brain  broke  his  birth's  invidious  bar. 
It  was  reserved  for  the  gospel  to  teach  that  in  the  lowly  duties  of 
a  slave  as  such,  it  was  possible  to  bring  lustre  to  the  sublimest 
truth  of  revelation,  the  truth  that  God  is  Himself  our  Saviour. 
(For  this  phrase  see  i  Tim.  i.  i,  iv.  10.) 

Properly  to  appreciate  verses  1 1-14  it  is  necessary  to  connect  the 
passage  very  closely  with  the  practical  directions  and  reproofs  of  the 
preceding  verses.  For  the  smallest  as  well  as  the  greatest  duties 
or  aspects  of  life  the  whole  force  of  revealed  truth  is  at  hand,  just 
as  in  a  great  engineering  shed  the  same  store  of  hydraulic  force 
is  applied  to  hammer  an  iron  beam  or  to  insert  a  rivet.  Thus  the 
conduct  of  men  and  women,  old  and  3'oung.  bond  and  free,  is  all 
determined  by  the  facts:  'the  grace  of  God  appeared,*  'bringing 
salvation,'  *  that  we  should  live  soberly  and  righteously,'  '  the 
blessed  hope  of  the  appearing  of  the  Divine  Saviour,*  *  his  self- 
giving  to  redeem  us  and  make  us  zealous  of  good  works.'  If  j'ou 
ask  how  an  aged  man  should  behave,  or  how  a  young  wife  in 
the  home  should  behave  ;  how  a  freeman  should  behave,  or  how 
a  bondservant  should  behave  ;  the  answer  is  all  determined  by 
the  same  supreme  facts.  Grace,  Redemption,  Regeneration.  This 
connexion,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  singularly  Pauline  ;  and  yet 
it  has  been  a  connexion  singularly  easy  to  lose,  and  church  ethics 
have  seldom  succeeded  in  grasping  or  establishing  it. 

11.  the  g'race  of  God  hath  appeared:  should  be  'appeared,* 
for  it  points  to  the  Incarnation  (cf.  John  i.  14),  and  Christ's  whole 
life  and  works  (cf.  2  Tim.  i.  9). 


TITUS  2.  12,13  185 

appeared,  bringing  salvation  *  to  all  men,  instructing  us,  to  12 
the  intent  that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts, 
we  should  live  soberly  and  righteously  and  godly  in  this 
present  world  ;  looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and  appearing  13 
of  the  glory  of  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ; 

unto  all  men.  (Cf.  i  Tim.  ii.  4  ;  Rom.  v.  18,  xi.  32  ;  John 
iii.  16,  Sec.)  The  universaHty  of  the  Atonement  makes  it  applicable 
to  the  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  just  referred  to. 

instructlngf  ns :  i.  e.  the  gospel  is  essentially  an  instruction 
in  life,  and  its  object  is  to  produce  characters  of  a  certain  kind  ; 
cf.  tlie  prominence  given  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  the 
gospel  narrative. 

12.  denjringf:  as  in  chap.  i.  16,  by  deeds  and  not  bywords; 
the  reference  therefore  to  baptism  which  Dr.  Bernard  sees  would 
reduce  the  whole  sentence  to  chaos ;  we  live  soberly  and  godly 
and  righteously,  not  by  having  once  renounced  the  world  in 
baptism,  but  by  a  daily  self-denial  and  taking  up  our  cross  to 
follow  Christ. 

ung'odliness  refers  to  the  religious,  worldly  lusts  to  the 
moral,  side  of  worldly  life.  (For  the  latter  see  r  Tim.  vi.  9  ;  2  Tim. 
iii.  6,  iv.  3;  and  cf.  i  John  ii.  16.) 

soberly:  ii.  2. 

righteously:  or,  'justly,'  as  i.  8. 

fifodly:  2  Tim.  iii.  12. 

this  present  world  (2  Tim.  iv.  10  and  i  Tim.  vi.  17):  here  the 
contrast  is  with  the  world  to  come  (verse  13). 

13.  blessed:  elsewhere  applied  only  to  persons. 

hope:  meaning  rather,  'the  thing  hoped  for.'  Actsxxiv.15, 
in  a  speech  of  Paul's  ;  Gal.  v.  5  ;  Rom.  viii.  24. 

our  gi-cat  God  and  Haviour  Jesus  Christ :  or,  '  the  great 
God  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.'  The  adjective  'great'  is  not 
applied  to  God  in  the  N.  T.,  but  applied  to  Jesus  it  identifies  him 
with  God.  Grammatically  the  sentence  might  mean  '  the  appearing 
of  the  great  God  and  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ '  (A.V.).  But  (i) 
the  word  *  appearing '  in  reference  to  the  Second  Advent  is  ex- 
clusively used  of  Christ;  (ii)  the  epithet  'great'  before  God  is 
contrary  to  N.  T.  usage,  and  is  only  significant  if  the  term  God  is 
being  applied  to  Christ;  (iii)  the  peculiar  insistence  of  these 
Epistles  on  God  being  the  Saviour  (i  Tim.  i.  i),  tegether  with  the 
omission  of  the  article  before  '  Saviour  '  here  (as  compared  with 
chap.  i.  4,  where  the  article  is  inserted),  almost  forces  us  to  treat 
the  terms  '  great  God '  and  '  our  Saviour  '  as  clamped  together  by 

'  '  bringing  salvation ' :  an  adjective  not  used  elsewhere  in 
the   N.T. 


i86  TITUS  2.  14 

14  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from 
all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself  a  people  for  his  own 
possession  \  zealous  of  good  works. 

the  article  before  *  great ' ;  and  finally  (iv),  the  qualifying  description 
of  verse  14,  which  must  refer  to  Jesus  Christ,  completely  over- 
balances the  sentence  if  Christ  is  to  be  separated  from  '  the  great 
God.'  These  considerations  justify  the  rendering  of  the  Revisers, 
and  shew  that  we  have  here  the  Pauline  thought,  found  both  in 
Acts  XX.  28  and  in  Rom.  ix.  5,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  identified 
with  the  great  God.  Prof.  Stevens  {New  Testament  Theology,  p.  397) 
maintains  the  view  taken  of  Rom.  ix.  5  by  our  translators  :  *  That 
Christ  should  be  called  0€os  does  not  seem  strange  after  pre- 
existence,  creatorship,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  equality  with 
God,  and  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  have  been  attributed  to  him. 
The  principal  objection  to  this  view  is  that  Paul  does  not  else- 
where call  Christ  ©(6s,  much  less  ©coy  iirl  Travrajv.  But  it  is 
answered,  on  the  other  side,  that  Paul  does  elsewhere  attribute 
creatorship  and  sovereignty  over  the  universe  to  Christ  (e.  g.  Col. 
i.  16),  and  applies  to  him  terms  clearly  implying  Qeorrjs.  Those 
who  hold  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistle  to  Titus  may  appeal  to 
ii.  13.'  The  ambiguity  of  the  grammar  would  make  us  hesitate  to 
rest  the  truth  on  this  passage  if  it  stood  alone;  but  the  truth  being 
otherwise  authenticated,  and  being  required  to  give  force  to  the 
several  details  of  the  sentence,  may  be  safely  recognized  here. 

14.  who  g'ave  himself.    Cf.  i  Tim.  ii.  6,  the  Pauline  description 
of  the  Atonement  as  in  Rom.  viii.  32;  Gal.  i.  4,  ii.  20  ;  Eph.v.25. 

that  he  might  redeem. :  the  negative,  and  piirify,the  positive, 
purpose  of  the  self-giving  of  Christ. 

redeem  (or,  ransom^  from  all  iniquity:  h't.  'lawlessness,' 
I  John  iii.  4,  and  so  in  LXX,  Ps.  cxxx.  8 :  'He  shall  redeem  Israel 
from  all  his  iniquities.'  The  ransom  (the  term  used  b3'  the  Lord 
himself,  Matt.  xx.  28  ;  Mark  x.  45,  and  employed  here  and  else- 
where in  the  N.  T.  on  that  account)  is  nowhere  strictly  defined. 
From  Irenaeus  to  Anselm  it  was  supposed  that  the  ransom  was 
paid  to  the  devil  for  our  liberation,  because  the  Lord  would  not 
be  unjust  even  to  him.  But  as  the  Fathers  added  the  idea  that 
the  devil  was  tricked  by  the  death  of  Christ,  and  haxang  accepted 
him  in  lieu  of  men,  found  that  he  could  not  retain  the  ransom 
paid,  this  idea  became  untenable.  The  idea  which  Anselm  sub- 
stituted, viz.  that  the  ransom  was  paid  to  an  abstract  law,  was  too 
artificial  to  permanently  hold  its  ground.  And  no  completel}' 
satisfactory  account  of  the  image  of  ransom  has  been  given.  But, 
as  Mr.  Scott  Lidgett  has  shewn  in  h\s  '  Spiritual  Principle  of  the 

'  The  word  '  for  his  own  possession  '  occurs  only  here. 


TITUS   2.   15—3.   r  187 

These  things  speak  and  exhort  and  reprove  with  all  15 
authority.     Let  no  man  despise  thee. 

Put  them  in  mind  to  be  in  subjection  to  rulers,  to  3 

Atonement,  the  explanation  is  to  be  sought  in  a  spiritual  sphere, 
where  '  the  self-giving  of  the  Son  of  God  '  in  a  perfect  obedience 
to  God  acquires  such  a  value,  that  in  him  the  whole  race  may  be 
regarded  as  potentially  reconciled.  (See  on  i  Tim.  ii.  6,  p.  98. ) 
As  by  faith  men  enter  into  possession  of  the  fact,  they  are  delivered 
from  lawlessness,  and  brought  into  the  obedience  of  Christ  Jesus, 
From  this  point  of  view  the  obedience  of  Christ  unto  death  may  be 
regarded  as  a  ransom,  a  price  paid,  which  redeems  believing  men 
from  sin.  But  it  is  not  a  commercial  or  even  a  legal  transaction. 
It  belongs  rather  to  the  circle  of  ideas  covered  by  '  the  grace  of 
God.'  For  the  word  *  ransoming'  see  i  Mace,  iv,  11;  Luke  xxiv, 
21 ;  I  Pet.  i.  18,  19. 

a  people  for  his  own  possession.  The  equivalent  of  the 
Hebrew  phrase  in  Exod.  xix.  5  ;  Deut.  vii.  6,  xiv.  2,  xxvL  18 
(i  Pet.  ii.  9  gives  another  term  for  the  same  idea).  The  Revisers 
have  surrendered  Tyndale's  translation  'peculiar,'  which  to  him 
meant  '  for  his  own  possession  '  (derived  from  the  Latin  peculium, 
possession),  because  the  old  word  has  acquired  a  strange  meaning 
from  misguided  uses  of  this  text.  The  idea  of  the  ransomed  as  the 
possession  of  Christ  is  what  gives  dignity  to  all  the  lives  of 
Christians,  even  the  humblest,  such  as  slaves,  verse  9  :  cf.  for  the 
idea,  2  Tim.  ii.  20-22. 

good  works,  a  dominant  note  of  the  Pastorals  (see  i  Tim,  ii. 
10),  has  its  special  force  here,  since  the  great  fact  of  redemption  has 
been  cited  as  the  sanction  of  the  good  living  enjoined  in  verses  2-10. 
15.  authority  :  the  word  rendered  in  i  Tim.  i.  i  by  'command- 
ment.' It  is  the  notion  that  the  commandment  of  God  our  Saviour 
is  passed  on  from  Paul  to  Titus  ;  and  his  ministry  is  thus  to  rest 
not  on  his  personal  authority,  but  on  the  authority  of  the  truth 
that  he  delivers.  The  phrase,  rightly  understood,  does  not  raise 
the  minister  above  the  truth,  but  the  truth  above  the  minister. 

Let  no  man  despise  thee.  From  the  parallel  i  Tim,  iv,  12  we 
are  tempted  to  see  in  this  a  proof  that  Titus  was,  like  Timothy, 
a  young  man.  But  there  are  other  reasons  for  contemning 
a  teacher  besides  youth,  e,  g.  a  slackness  in  speaking,  exhorting, 
and  reproving  ;  and  it  is  perhaps  this  ground  for  scorn  which 
Titus  is  to  avoid  by  the  diligent  exercise  of  his  task. 

ni.   iii.  1-8.     On  the  attitude  of  Chnstians  to  tlie  heathen  govern- 
uieut  and  society  around  them. 

1.  Pnt  them  in  mind:   viz.  all  the  different  classes  referred 
to  in  ii.  i-io. 

rulers,  to  authorities:   that  Roman  Government  to  which 


i88  TITUS  3.  3-4 

authorities,  to  oe  obedient  \  to  be  ready  unto  every  good 

2  work,  to  speak  evil  of  no  man,  not  to  be  contentious,  to 

3  be  gentle,  shewing  all  meekness  toward  all  men.  For  we 
also  were  aforetime  foolish,  disobedient,  deceived,  serving 
divers  lusts  and  pleasures  ^  living  in  malice  and  envy, 

4  hateful ',  hating  one  another.     But  when  the  kindness  of 

Paul  always,  and  with  so  much  reason,  shewed  profound  respect  : 
of.  Rom.  xiii.  i. 

every  good  work,  i.  e.  in  reference  to  the  Government :  cf. 
Rom.  xiii.  6.  Perhaps  there  is  a  stress  on  good,  as  shewing  the 
limits  of  obedience  to  the  powers  that  be. 

2.  to  speak  evil  of  no  man.  Paul  speaks  as  one  who  knew 
what  it  was  to  be  the  object  of  ill-speaking  (Rom.  iii.  8 ;  i  Cor.  iv. 
13,  X.  30). 

not  to  be  contentious :  the  word  used  in  i  Tim.  iii.  3. 

gentle  :  Phil.  iv.  5  (marg.). 

meekness  :  2  Tim.  ii.  25.  He  who  was  *  meek '  (Matt.  xi.  29) 
shewed  us  that  this  spirit  is  to  be  shewn  not  only  to  fellow 
Christians,  but  to  all  men. 

3.  For  we  . . .  were  aforetime,  &c.  The  reason  for  meekness  to 
non-Christians  is  that  we  were  once  in  that  miserable  and  loveless 
condition.  This  contrast  between  what  we  are  now  and  what 
we  were  once  is  very  Pauline.  (Rom.  xi.  30;  Eph.  ii.  11-13, 
V.  8  ;  Col.  i.  21,  iii.  7,  8.) 

foolish  the  intellectual,  disobedient  the  moral,  condition  of 
unbelievers. 

bateful.  Better  to  keep  the  distinction  of  words  in  the 
original  by  translating  '  odious,  hating  one  another.' 

4.  But  when  the  kindness  . . .  appeared  :  cf.  ii.  1 1.  'Appeared ' 
is  the  word  used  of  sunrise  orof  star-rise,  Acts  xxvii.  20;  it  conveys  a 
sense  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  rising  with  healing  on  his  wings. 

kindness  and  love  toward  men :  a  combination  very  common 
in  Greek  literature.  Paul  uses  the  familiar  phrase  of  God,  and 
there  lies  the  novelty.  This  quality  of  God  was  always  there, 
but,  like  the  sun  before  sunrise,  it  arose  and  shone  in  the  coming 
of  Christ. 

love  toward  men  is  in  Greek  'philanthropy,'  and  suggests 
God  as  the  first  Philanthropist. 

^  '  to  be  obedient'  :  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  Paul's  letters,  but  in 
a  speech  of  his  (Acts  xxvii.  21). 

*  *  pleasures  ' :  this  common  word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  Paul's 
writings. 

^  '  hateful  '  :  a  word  nowhere  else  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


TITUS   3.  5  189 

God  our  Saviour,  and  his  love  toward  man,  appeared, 
not    by   works    done    in    righteousness,    which   we   did  5 
ourselves,    but    according   to   his    mercy   he   saved   us, 
through  the  washing  of  regeneration  ^  and  renewing  of  the 

God  our  Saviour.  Cf,  i.  3.  Notice  the  contrast  as  between 
light  and  darkness,  of  the  kindness  and  love  of  men  in  God,  and 
the  men  odious  and  hating^  each  other  (verse  3). 

5.  not  by  works.  Cf.  Eph.  ii.  8,  where  the  connexion  is  much 
the  same.  This  is  the  great  doctrine  of  Ihe  undisputed  Epistles, 
Rom.  ix.  II  ;  Gal.  ii.  16,  &c.,  and  is  Paul's  most  notable  contribu- 
tion to  theology. 

according*  to  his  (own)  mercy :  so  i  Pet.  i.  3. 

tliroug"!!  the  washing'  should  be  throug"h  a  laver  of 
regeneration:  so  Eph.  v.  26  (cf.  Heb.  x.  22;  John  iii.  5; 
I  Pet.  iii.  21).  Up  to  this  point  we  have  been  throughout 
the  passage  reminded  of  Paul's  thought  elsewhere.  But  here 
a  difficulty  occurs.  That  we  are  saved  by  faith  is  Paul's  con- 
stant and  distinctive  teaching;  but  here,  instead  of  faith,  it  is 
*  a  laver  of  regeneration  '  that  saves  us.  Commentators  agree  in 
regarding  the  laver  as  baptism  ;  and  thus  it  seems  that  Paul  gives 
the  rite  of  baptism  as  the  means  of  salvation.  In  view  of  the 
urgent  and  passionate  insistence  on  faith  in  the  undoubted  writings 
of  Paul,  we  should  be  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  if  this  were  the 
meaning  of  the  passage,  the  passage  did  not  come  from  the  hand 
of  Paul,  but  must  be  referred  to  that  later  church  doctrine  which 
in  the  second  century  rapidly  substituted  baptism  for  faith  as  the 
means  of  salvation.  But  perhaps  we  may  escape  this  conclusion 
by  laying  stress  on  the  connexion  of  words  in  the  original,  which 
is  very  imperfectly  brought  out  by  our  versions.  '  He  saved  us 
through  a  laver  (or  washing)  of  regeneration  and  renewal  (which 
is  the  work)  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  The  Holy  Ghost  governs  the 
laver  of  regeneration  as  well  as  renewal.  And  as  there  is  no 
article  before  *  laver,'  we  are  the  more  justified  in  regarding  it  not 
as  *  the  laver,'  but  as  '  a  laver,'  a  laver,  that  is,  determined  by  the 
words  following,  viz.  a  laver  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  works 
regeneration  and  renewal.  Thus  viewed,  the  passage  is  parallel 
to  John  iii.  5  and  8,  where  our  Lord,  in  coupling  the  water  and 
the  Spirit  together,  shews  that  his  object  is  to  assert  the  supremacy 
of  the  Spirit,  implicitly  denying  the  efficacy  of  the  water  unless  the 
Spirit  be  the  source  of  rebirth  ;  and  then  at  verse  15  he  goes  on  to 
shew  how  the  Spirit  operates  by  the  faith  of  the  believer.  By 
adopting  this  method  of  interpretation  we  bring  the  passage  into 

^  '  regeneration ' :  a  word  not  used  by  Paul;  only  found  in  Matt, 
xix.  28. 


iQo  TITUS   3.  6,  7 

6  Holy    Ghost,    which   he   poured   out    upon    us    richly, 

7  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour ;  that,  being  justified  by 
his  grace,  we  might  be  made  heirs  according  to  the  hope 

harmony  with  Paul's  thought,  though  there  is  no  mention  of  faith. 
By  adopting  the  method  of  interpretation  of  Dr.  Bernard,  for 
example,  we  construct  a  formidable  argument  against  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Epistle.  If  we  look  back  on  the  passage  from  the 
standpoint  of  later  thought,  which  materialized  and  externalized 
the  method  of  salvation,  we  are  sorely  tempted  to  see  in  the  laver 
that  baptism  which  undoubtedly  rested  itself  on  this  passage 
misunderstood.  But  if  we  look  from  the  standpoint  of  Paul 
and  work  up  to  this  passage  from  his  earlier  letters,  it  is  not 
unnatural  to  move  from  the  bare  idea  of  faith  in  Christ  as  the 
means  of  salvation,  to  the  intermediate  idea  of  identification  with 
Christ  in  death  and  resurrection,  '  buried  with  Christ  in  baptism,' 
up  to  the  crowning  notion  of  this  later  letter,  that  the  faith  in 
Christ  as  one  who  died  for  our  sins,  as  one  with  whtom  we  are 
identified  in  baptism,  brings  us  to  a  laver  which  is  no  longer 
a  mere  water-baptism,  but  an  actual  baptism  of  regeneration 
and  renewal  effected  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Dr.  Bernard's  comment  that  *  the  renewal  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
the  second  aspect  of  baptismal  grace,  the  renovation  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  prominent  in  confirmation,'  is  a  curious  instance  of 
dogmatic  prepossession.  He  thus  removes  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
altogether  from  the  act  of  baptism,  postponing  it  till  confirmation, 
with  the  result  that  the  soul  is  regenerate  by  water,  and  only 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is  the  delusion 
from  which  the  words  of  Christ  in  John  iii.  i-i6  are  meant  to 
deliver  us  ;  and  it  is  certainly  a  delusion  into  which  our  writer 
here  has  not  fallen,  for  the  laver  he  speaks  of  as  regeneration 
and  renewal  is  the  direct  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  indeed 
this  commentator  has  immediately  to  retreat  from  his  position 
in  dealing  with  the  following  words,  for 

6.  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  poured  out  upon  us,  is,  as  he 
properly  says,  that  baptism  of  the  Spirit  which  was  given  at 
baptism,  and  not  years  after  in  confirmation ;  see  Acts  ii.  38. 

througfh  Jesus  Christ.  The  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  was 
effected   by  the  risen  Christ,  who  himself  is  Spirit  (2  Cor.   iii. 

3,   17). 

7.  justified  by  his  grace:  the  familiar  Pauline  thought  of 
Rom.  iii.  24. 

his  grace  :  so.  Christ's.  This  grace  of  Christ  is  mentioned  in 
i.  4  and  described  in  ii.  14. 

heirs  according'  to  the  hope  of  eternal  life.  As  the  margin 
shews,  the  genitive  '  of  eternal  life '  can  be  constructed  with  *  heirs ' 


TITUS  3.  8,9  191 

of  eternal  life.     Faithful  is  the  saying,  and  concerning  g 
these  things  I  will  that  thou  affirm  confidently,  to  the 
end  that  they  which  have  believed  God  may  be  careful  ^ 
to  maintain  good  works.      These  things  are  good  and 
profitable  unto  men  :  but  shun  foolish  questionings,  and  9 

or  '  hope.'  The  phrase  '  hope  of  eternal  life  '  in  i.  i  is  decidedly  in 
favour  of  the  latter.  And  it  is  no  objection  that  '  heirs '  is  left 
without  further  definition  ;  for  that  is  quite  a  Pauline  usage 
(Rom.  iv.  14,  viii.  17  ;  Gal.  iii.  29  :  cf.  Col.  iii.  24).  The  object  of 
the  inheritance  is  given  in  such  passages  as  i  Cor.  vi.  9,  xv.  50  ; 
Gal.  V.  21  ;  Matt.  xxv.  34  ;  Jas.  ii.  5  ;  Heb.  xii.  17  ;  i  Pet.  iii.  9; 
Heb.  vi.  12,  17  ;  Rom.  iv.  13  ;  Heb.  i.  14;  Mark  x.  17  ;  Luke  x. 
25,  xviii.  18;  Matt.  xix.  29;  Acts  xx.  32;  Eph.  i.  18  ;  i  Pet.  i.  4, 
'the  kingdom,'  'the  blessing,'  'the  promise,'  'salvation,*  'eternal 
life.' 

8.  A  recapitulation  of  the  whole  passage,  ii.  i — iii.  7. 
Faithful  is  tlie  saying*  (cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  11)  of  course  refers  to 

what  has  just  been  said.  The  insistence  on  these  truths  because 
one  is  an  heir  to  eternal  life  is  well  illustrated  by  the  title  in  the 
salutation,  'An  apostle,  in  hope  of  eternal  life.*  It  is  as  immortal 
beings  that  we  have  obligations  to  a  holy  life  here. 

confidently  afiirni :  i  Tim.  i.  7. 

they  which  have  believed  God:  2  Tim.  i.  12. 

maintain  g"ood  works :  rather,  '  to  be  foremost  in '  them. 
This  is  the  perpetual  burden  of  the  Pastorals,  i  Tim.  ii.  10  ;  and 
while  it  forms  a  contrast,  it  also  gives  a  necessary  complement  to 
Paul's  earlier  Epistles.  But  for  this  recognized  meaning  of  good 
works  in  these  letters  we  might,  on  the  strength  of  the  words 
themselves,  adopt  the  meaning  in  the  margin  (cf.  verse  14").  The 
labour  with  our  own  hands  at  our  own  calling  is  a  thoroughly 
apostolic  demand. 

These  things :  viz.  the  proper  attention  to  good  works  :  how 
this  is  profitable,  see  i  Pet.  ii.  12. 

9.  A  fresh  warning  against  false  teachers  before  the  letter  closes, 
verses  9-1 i. 

foolish  questionings.  See  on  i  Tim.  i.  4,  vi.  4 ;  2  Tim.  ii. 
23.  The  attempt  to  see  different  stages  of  development  in  the 
hetero-teachers  of  the  three  Epistles,  with  a  view  to  determine  the 
date  ('  The  attack  upon  them  is  altogether  milder  here  than  in 
I  Timothy,  but  at  the  same  time  more  distinct  than  in  2  Timothy,' 
Schmidt  and  Holzendorff),is  somewhat  precarious  :  the  attack  here 
is  only  milder,  in  being  shorter,  than  that  in  i  Timothy,  and  the 

^  *  be  careful '  :  a  word  nowhere  else  in  the  N.  T. 


192  TITUS  3.  10-12 

genealogies,  and  strifes,  and  fightings  about  the  law ;  for 

10  they  are  unprofitable  ^  and  vain.     A  man  that  is  heretical  '^ 

1 1  after  a  first  and  second  admonition  refuse ;  knowing  that 
such  a  one  is  perverted  ^  and  sinneth,  being  self-condemned  *. 

12  When  I  shall  send  Artemas  unto  thee,  or  Tychicus, 

command   to  *  refuse  a  heretic '   might  easily  be  interpreted   as 
stronger  than  anything  in  2  Timothy. 

10.  heretical.  If  we  are  to  abide  within  Paul's  thought,  we 
must  not  give  to  the  word  an  ecclesiastical  meaning,  but  interpret 
it  by  I  Cor,  xi.  19 ;  Gal.  v.  20,  where  heresies  are  sects  or  parties 
within  a  church  (so  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees  are  '  heresies  ' 
within  Judaism,  Acts  v.  17,  xv.  5,  xxvi.  5.  And  the  Christians 
are  described  as  a  'heresy'  in  Judaism,  Acts  xxiv.  5,  14,  xxviii. 
22).  A  heretic  here  therefore  means  one  who  causes  divisions 
(Rom.  xvi.  17)  within  the  community,  but  does  not  break  awa}' 
from  it.  Titus  is  told  to  admonish  him  once  or  twice,  and  if  that 
fails,  to  avoid  (not  to  excommunicate)  him.  In  2  Tim,  ii.  23  it  was 
the  doctrine,  here  it  is  the  holder  of  it,  that  is  to  be  avoided. 
The  word  refuse  is  the  same  as  in  i  Tim.  iv.  7. 

11.  such:  viz.  a  person  who  resists  one  or  two  efforts  at 
admonition  (Matt,  xviii.  15  ;  2  Cor,  xiii.  i). 

perverted :  in  the  LXX,  Deut.  xxxii.  20 ;  Amos  vi.  12. 
Otherwise  compounded,  the  same  verb  appears  in  Matt.  xvii.  17  ; 
Luke  ix.  41 ;  Acts  xx.  30;  Phil.  ii.  15. 

sinneth  :  viz.  in  rejecting  the  admonition. 

self-condemned :  the  same  idea  in  i  Tim.  iv.  2.  It  does  not 
of  course  mean  that  he  is  conscious  of  his  condemnation  ;  quite 
the  reverse.  Having  resisted  the  admonition  of  his  teacher,  he  is 
condemned,  and  his  condemnation  lies  at  his  own  door.  Dr.  Ber- 
nard's comments,  therefore,  on  the  danger  of  regarding  our 
theological  opponents  as  self-condemned,  and  therefore  hypo- 
critical, because  'the  power  of  self-deceit  is  so  strong  that  self- 
condemnation  is  very  unusual,'  though  salutary,  are  irrelevant.  In 
Paul's  sense  of  the  word  a  man  is  self-condemned  whenever  he 
refuses  the  pleadings  of  truth  ;  and  it  becomes  unnecessary  for 
church  or  minister  to  pass  judgement  upon  him,  because  he  has 
unconsciously  passed  judgement  on  himself. 
IV.    iii.  12-15.     Directions  and  greetings. 

12.  Artemas:  only  mentioned  here;  in  tradition,  Bishop  of 
Lystra. 

*  *  unprofitable  '  :  a  word  not  elsewhere  in  Paul. 
^  *  heretical '  :  a  word  only  here  in  the  N.  T. 

^  *  perverted  '  :   nowhere  else  in  the  N.  T. 

*  *  self-condemned  *  :  nowhere  else  in  the  Greek  Bible. 


TITUS  3.  13,  14  193 

give  diligence  to  come  unto  me  to  Nicopolis  :    for  there 
I  have  determined  to  winter.     Set  forward  Zenas  the  13 
lawyer  and   Apollos    on   their  journey   diligently,   that 
nothing  be  wanting  unto  them.     And  let  our  people  also  14 
learn  to  maintain  good  works  for  necessary  uses,  that 
they  be  not  unfruitful. 

TycMcus  :  2  Tim.  iv.  12.  From  the  fact  that  later  T3'chicus 
was  sent  to  Ephesus  (2  Tim.  iv.  12),  it  is  likely  that  not  he  hut 
Artemas  was  finally  sent  to  take  Titus's  place  in  Crete. 

Nicopolis :  most  probably  the  city  on  the  Ambracian  Gulf  in 
Epirus,  built  by  Augustus  to  commemorate  the  battle  of  Actium, 
and  from  that  fact  called  '  City  of  Victory.'  The  colophon  of 
verse  15  in  the  Received  Text  is  doubly  wrong;  it  assumes  that 
Paul  wrote  from  Nicopolis  in  spite  of  the  distinct  there,  which 
shews  he  was  not  then  at  Nicopolis,  and  it  imagines  that  the 
Macedonian  Nicopolis  is  meant.  Dalmatia  was  just  north  of  the 
Epirote  Nicopolis  (2  Tim.  iv.  10).  The  introduction  of  this  city, 
nowhere  else  mentioned  in  connexion  with  Paul,  has  an  aim  of 
genuineness.  Also  the  two  phrases,  I  have  determined  (i  Cor. 
V.  3,  vii.  37),  and  to  winter  (i  Cor.  xvi.  6),  are  thoroughly  Pauline. 

13.  Zenas:  only  mentioned  here. 

lawyer :  either  in  the  Jewish  sense  (Matt.  xx.  35  ;  Luke  vii. 
30),  or,  more  likely,  as  the  name  is  Greek,  in  the  sense  of  juris- 
consult, '  counsel.' 

Apollos  is  the  familiar  contemporary  of  Paul.  Acts  xviii.  24  ; 
I  Cor.  iii.  4. 

14.  The  duty  of  setting  forward  other  Christians  is  emphasized 
by  Paul:  Rom.  xv.  24;  i  Cor.  xvi.  6,  11  ;  2 Cor.  i.  16  (cf.  3  John  6). 

This  introduction  of  new  names,  Artemas,  Nicopolis,  Zenas, 
must  be  counted  one  of  the  strongest  reasons  for  holding  to  the 
belief  that  we  have  to  do,  not  with  a  studied  imitation  of  a  Pauline 
letter,  but  with  a  letter  of  Paul  himself. 

14.  And  let  our  people  also  learn.  This  closing  injunction 
may  simply  arise  from  the  mention  of  hospitable  help  demanded 
for  Zenas  and  Apollos.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  an  echo 
of  the  insistence  on  good  works  which  has  run  through  all  the 
Epistle,  an  after-swell  of  a  wave  that  has  rolled  in  and  begun  to 
recede.  For  this  view  there  is  a  close  parallel  in  Gal.  vi.  12,  &c., 
where  the  pen  has  been  put  down,  but  is  resumed  to  add  a  con- 
firmatory postscript.  On  the  marginal  reading  see  verse  8.  It 
is  certainly  tempting  here  to  take  the  gfood  works  as  labour  with 
the  hands,  which  provides  the  means  of  helping  others.  But  not 
only  the  usage  of  the  Pastorals,  but  such  passages  as  Rom.  xv. 
28;  I  Cor.  xiv.  14,  decide  against  it. 


194  TITUS  3.   15 

15      All  that  are  with  me^  salute  thee.     Salute  them  that 
love  us  in  faith. 

Grace  be  with  you  all. 

15.  All  that  are  with  nxe.  The  phrase  sounds  the  same  as 
Gal.  i.  2, '  all  the  brethren  with  me,'  but  the  preposition  is  different 
in  the  two  cases.  And,  in  studying  the  terminology  of  the 
Pastorals,  one  has  to  note  that  '  with  '  is  in  them  always  repre- 
sented by  niTCL,  as  here  ;  while  in  other  Pauline  letters  avv  is  used, 
as  in  Gal.  i.  2. 

that  love  us :  the  *  us '  may  mean  only  Paul  and  Titus,  but  it 
would  be  more  natural  to  take  it  as  covering  all  true  Christians. 

in  faith.  Chap.  i.  4  and  i  Tim.  i.  2  (in  i  Cor,  iv.  17  Paul  put 
*  in  the  Lord '  instead). 

The  grace  (sc.  of  Christ)  he  with  you  all.  It  was  the  sign- 
manual  which  Paul  had  chosen  to  mark  his  Epistles  (2  Thess.  iii. 
17).  In  the  other  two  Pastorals  'all 'was  left  out;  for,  strictly 
speaking,  it  is  not  quite  appropriate  in  writing  to  an  individual. 
But  the  mention  of  *  our  people'  (verse  14)  suggested  it  here. 

'  '  All  that  are  with  me ' :  this  salutation  not  elsewhere  in  Paul's 
letters  (cf.  Acts  xx.  34). 


INDEX 


[The  Numerals  refer  to  the  Pages.'\ 


iEons,  93. 

Alexander,  21,  32,  41,  95,  170. 

Apollos,  193. 

airaf  M'^oyLtva,  45,  85. 

Artemas,  26,  192. 

Asceticism  condemned,  1 16, 1 79. 

Asia,  147. 

Augustine,  96. 

Baptism,  189. 

Bartlet,    Mr.   Vernon,    13,    22, 

29,  48. 
Baur,  37,  44. 
Bernard,   Dr.,   8,   86,   94,    103, 

105,  122,  135,  136,  147,  152, 

155,  158,  167,  177,  185,  190, 

192. 
Beyschlag,  45. 
Bishops,    II,  23,   33,   34,    104, 

114,  128,  131,  176. 
Bowen,  Rev.  W.  E.,  14. 

Catholicism,  180. 
Christ  is  God,  112,  185. 
Church,  III,  114,  155. 
Clement,  28,  154. 
—  of  Alexandria,  94. 
Confirmation,  190. 
Crescens,  169. 
Crete,  26,  27,  53,  176. 
Cretans,  178. 
Cj'prian,  128. 

Dalmatia,  21,  27,  169. 
Deacons,  109,  118,  167. 
Deaconess,  35,  109,  126. 
Demas,  32,  169. 
Deposit,  the,  11,  145. 
Devil,  the,  108,  157. 


Eichhorn,  3. 
Elders,  see  Bishops. 
Ephesus,  23,  50,  84. 
Epictetus,  184. 
Erastus,  32,  172. 
Essenes,  125,  130. 
kTipodidaaKoKiXV,  38,  157,  177. 
Eunice,  142. 
Eusebius,  27,  53. 
Evangelist,  167. 

Faith,  7,  94,  99,  167,  181. 
Faithful  sayings,  119,  152,  191. 
Forgery,  18. 

Gaul,  21,  169. 
Genealogies,  39. 
Genuineness  of  the  letters,  19, 
Gnostics,   12,  37,  83,  85,  116, 

139- 
Godliness,  8,  97. 
Grace,  144. 
Grau,  17. 

Hand-Comnientar,  58,  84,  103, 

142,  143,  146. 
Heretics,  192. 
Hermogenes,  147. 
Holtzmann,  3. 
Hort,  4,  45,  86,  94,  107,  III, 

121,  128,  130. 
Hug,  22. 

Hymenaeus,  41,  94,  154. 
Hymns,  113. 

Imprisonment,  second,  20. 
Inspiration  of  Scripture,  164. 


196 


THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES 


James  and  Jambres,  160. 
Jesuits,  163. 

Kingsley,  130. 

Kiirsgefassier  Comntentar,  4,  8, 
58,  87. 

Laying  on  of  hands,  24,  37,  121, 

129,  143. 
Lidgett,  Mr.,  187. 
Lightfoot,  132. 
Linus,  173. 
Liturgies,  152. 
Luke,  author  of  the  Pastorals, 

—  with  Paul,  169. 
Lystra,  22. 

McGiffert,  3,  6,  16,  51. 
Marcion,  7,  12,  43,  85. 
Mark,  169. 
Mediator,  98. 
Monotheism,  93. 
Mosheim,  12. 
Muratorian  Fragment,  30. 
Mystery,  109. 
Myths,  86,  118,  167,  179. 

Nicolaus,  41. 
Nicopolis,  26,  27,  193. 

Onesiphorus,  21,  147,  172. 
Ordination,  122. 

Pastorals,  why?,  19. 
Persecution,  162. 
Philetus,  154. 
Prayers  for  the  dead,  147. 
Priesthood,  123,  181. 
Prisca  and  Aquila,  172. 

Ramsay,    Prof.,    52,    104,    151, 

169,  172. 
Ransom,  98,  186. 
Riches,  138. 
Riggenbach,  10,  87,  100,  103, 


105-107,  122,  124,  168.  171, 
174,  179. 
Ritualism,  170. 

San  day.  Prof.,  45. 
Saviour,  God,  83. 
Schmid,  3. 

Schmidt   and   Holzendorff,   86, 
92,  103,  115,  124,  158,  i6r, 

177,  191. 
Schott,  17. 
Second  Coming,  137. 
Slaves,  132,  184. 
Soden,  von,  95,   102,   no,  115, 

121,  127,  146,  165,  171. 
Sound  doctrine,    89,   146,   177, 

179,  180,  183. 
Spain,  visit  to,  18,  21,  30. 
Spitta,  15,  18. 

Timothy,  disciple  of  Paul,  5,  33, 
47,  48,  120,  148. 

—  agent  in  Ephesus,  85,  121. 

—  needed  at  the  end,  168. 

—  weakness,  136,  147,  156. 
Titus,  disciple  of  Paul,  5,  33,  51, 

175. 

—  agent  in  Crete,  85,  176. 

—  character,  182,  187. 

—  sent  to  Dalmatia,  169. 
Trophimus,  21,  32,  172. 
Tychicus,  27,  170,  193. 

Valentinus,  40. 

Watson,  Dr.  John,  93. 
Weiss,  86. 

Widows,  church,  35,  124,  132. 
Women,  100,  102,  124. 
Word,  the,  175. 
Works,  good,  loi,  138, 180, 187, 
191,  193. 

Zahn,  15,  19,  27,  42,  106. 
Zenas,  26,  193. 


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